Ultra Tragedy: Everything Happens for a Reason

"Salvation is the sweetest sound." -- Aztec Camera

When will we, Filipinos, ever have salvation. Jeepneys make our daily lives hell; as our politicians do. Just a couple of weeks ago, Manny Pacquiao saved us from the abyss of anonymity, now we are again faced with the challenge of justifying a tragedy which is the deaths of almost a hundred souls in an event that only promised many of our countrymen to have fun and try their luck the quick way.

I cannot fathom this tragic episode. I can understand the thousands who lose their lives in China whenever there is an earthquake or some flooding; or in India when two trains collide with each other or a typhoon, which is a regular occurrence. No, I meant it only because their population exceeds a billion each. But not this. Not us. What happened at the Ultra Stadium in Pasig City yesterday is unexpected, to say the least.

I saw this movie on HBO years ago about a girl who couldn't understand why of all people, after all her efforts of wooing a guy ended for naught. At first, she thought they were already going great with their friendship, and she really expected she'd end up with her "special" friend. It turned out that the guy was just being good to her and that he already had a girlfriend, although he never really told her, because according to him, he never regarded their friendship to go farther than that.

So, she starts confiding with her best friend about it and when the latter told her that everything has a reason, she retorted by saying, "if everything has a reason, then how do you explain those six million Jews Hitler killed." That question was never answered in the movie.

Interestingly, the movie's title was Frankie Blue Eyes (if I remember right), which is about an aging Italian bar/cafe owner who idolized Frank Sinatra and whose grandchild (the girl) shared a passion for the famous singer. And when I found myself drinking with my dad the next day, and knowing that we both liked 'Ole Blue Eyes (Frank Sinatra), I opened that question to him asking if there really was a reason for everything, and cited the holocaust as alluded from the film. Well, his answer was a simple yes. When I tried to push him more on the topic, he said, "Karl, you cannot question God. Everything has a reason whether you like it or not." That ended my query.

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