There has been an increase in terroristic activities here in our city. Small explosions meant to scare rather than to harm people. Robberies, shoot-outs, theft, beheading, kidnapping...things the Philippines has learned to deal with.

I listened to the news about the recent small explosions in Ortigas, Commonwealth, Pasig and Katipunan. Crazy fireworks meant to impress and destroy public property. Fine.

The police said it was not meant as a terroristic act because there were no casualties and the damages were minimal, unlike major catastrophes like 9-11.

I disagree.

Terrorism. The root word is TERROR.

Are we saying that we should ignore these little mishaps because they haven't scarred any innocent lives? haven't petrified daily dwellers into holing themselves up in their homes forever?

Big or small, these incidents are done to instill FEAR and TERROR into the hearts of the people. These things are not jokes that we can brush off. They are things meant to catch attention, to gain popularity.

And to some people, they find scaring people cool, and do a copycat of things 'way more important than real life'.

As I keep on warning my students, I tell them "Don't run in the classroom". They refuse to listen, and in the end, someone goes home with a bruise on his forearm. Haven't we learned enough to see that this is a cycle of neverending pain? An Endless Waltz that is cliche yet true...and regrettably, nonstop.

It's sad that our young ones will grow up in a world where they know 'robbery', 'rape', 'terrorism' at ten years old. These aren't words they should be exposed to, yet in my short-lived life, I recall being exposed to this side of the world as well, when I was young.

People think that by scaring people the world will become a better place. Remember, we are 6 billion people and still growing. We cannot all bow down to the demands of one person holding a gun. We need to learn to listen and COEXIST. A skill we always forget.

THE WORLD CAME BEFORE ANY OF US, BUT YOU DON'T HEAR IT SPEAKING OUT AND CLAIMING AUTHORITY.