While the metro sleeps

A person from the past has been the topic of many conversations, group emails, texts, even blogs from the AMCI community for a number of days now. This was the email message that started it all:

Thursday May 26, 2005 7:32PM
Please pray for person X. He is now in the ICU of Makati Med --- he suffered 3 bullet shots to the stomach at 2:30 am last night at 7-11 Evangelista. While his condition is stable, it remains critical.

Stable because he is conscious and can speak. Critical because there is still one bullet left that is yet to be removed. No motive nor suspect.

I cannot even fathom how to write about this. More than that, I still cannot grasp how I feel about this. Shock? Yes. Sad? Yes. Confused? Yes. Sympathethic? Yes. Worried? Yes. Beyond this, I do not want to explore any more.

I have totally disconnected myself from this person. Difficult? Yes. But necessary. It's not that I have not yet learned to forgive but I just don't want to complicate things anymore. Present conditions seem satisfactory. It's not that I have no heart for not being there to sympathize and show support and wish him well. Believe me, I'm all heart, in every single thing I do, will do and have done. It's just that I've realized that -- this is his battle. Not mine. His recovery is in my prayers. Sincerely and intently. To my judgment, that is enough.

At 1 am, he went to his friend's place to crash in for the night but his deep sleeper friend was unable to hear his knocks. Napped in his car and woke up with a parched throat. Off he went to a 7-11 nearby and emerging from the store, an unknown person armed with a gun aimed at his stomach and pulled the trigger three times. He sat on the curb and waited for help to arrive. He's been in ICU for fours days already. Operation after opeartion. Tubes sticking out of him. Hands tied to the bed posts.

How unthinkable that while the metro sleeps this happened.

Someone was so enraged or so deluded with the intention of killing him. Why?

I am praying for you. I am praying that you emerge from this and still be the strong athletic able person that you are. I am praying that you take on life with a clear and determined plan to better yourself more after this. Life is precious and fragile and yet we all should embrace our vulnerabilities and be all that we can be. Suck the marrow out of life and aim for greatness. I wish for you all of these. Everything has a reason. Make sense out of what has happened and learn from it and move on. Stay strong for more of your journeys ahead. Make God a part of your life. And thanks for having been in mine.