AL ELLEMA

These are rainy days and we do not know how many people are well prepared for it. We have seen the devastation of many farms that were hit by the floods. The destruction of crops will surely affect food supply in the next few months. We cannot expect too much come harvest time as many of our plants, especially rice which is our staple food, had been washed by the heavy rains and floods. There still will be harvest time no matter what, but the produce of our farms will surely be lean as plants were inundated. Rice that already started bearing healthy grains were suddenly washed out by the floods.

If these are lean months where the supply of rice is low, causing prices of our staple food to rise almost on a daily basis, much more crisis is coming in the aftermath of the torrential rains. People must face the reality of an impending food shortage due mainly to the destruction of many plants, rice above all. But with the current crisis we are in, it is quite difficult for many people to save enough for the leaner months that is sure to come. While we can foresee the effects of the flood that hit the region, many will be unable to find means to prepare for such impending shortages in the supply of food and other basic needs.

We truly need to revive the basic lessons demonstrated by ants, that small creature that shows unparalleled industry and diligence in gathering enough stocks for the rainy days. It is truly unfortunate that we tend to conveniently forget such lessons, setting on a happy-go-lucky lifestyle, if not total laziness to gather enough for the occurrence of rainy days. We have so much time to produce the basic needs we need during better times of the year. Unfortunately, we prefer to enjoy the times of bountiful harvest without saving enough for the days when we cannot earn due to the rains.

It is sometimes awesome to observe our penchant to just keep singing in the rain. We tend to enjoy the moment by spending instead of saving every extra penny from our hard-earned money. This is evident in the proliferation of machines that our people love to croon to while away their time in the guise of leisure after work. We are caught with our inclination to be happy by our manifest preference for the videoke that eats money than buying tools of trade that produces money. These are fundamental reasons why we often fell yawning with empty bellies during rainy days.
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