Now, a world in danger

Mariano Carrasco

IT looks like the world is in grave danger. We should all pray.

On all fronts, it appears that a confrontation between the world powers could explode into an all-out war unless cooler heads intervene, or unless Divine intervention occurs.  The burning Middle Eastern countries socioeligious conflict, the massive migration bursting at the seams, the Ukraine-Russia-US- European imbroglio and mutually destructive economic embargoes, and the Chinese and Asean territorial dispute—any of these could explode anytime and destroy all of humanity in a nuclear fireball. We could be enjoying the last few months of global sunshine since World War II.

The signs are all there. The Russians and the US-Nato forces have undertaken major military exercises along or near the conflict areas in Ukraine, and the Chinese have displayed its highly disciplined armed forces and sophisticated military hardware during their victory parade, even as nuclear-powered US submarines and aircraft carriers are prowling around or near the West Philippine Sea or South China Sea. Everybody is showing their military might and muscle, with joint military exercises here and there, including Japan and the Koreas, as if daring everyone to a fight.

The Americans have banned the entry of prominent Russian officials, including a Russian UN delegate and they have boycotted China’s huge military parade in commemoration of their victory during the Second World War.

Wars are mutually destructive, and should be avoided at all cost. This is where effective dispute resolution, diplomacy, and selfestraint should come in handy. If we consider that no less than American president Bill Clinton had oral sex with White House intern Monica Lewinsky right inside the oval office, the likelihood of presidents of the US, Russia or China, making a mistake in pushing the nuclear buttons by mistake would also be possible.

Of course, stoking the coals of fire wouldn’t help. And nobody, not even the Philippines, should be daring anyone. In a conflict between the giants, we the ants, could be trampled upon, and we would be the first recipients of the nuclear missiles from the Chinese and Russians since American nuclear submarines are prowling around our shores, and perhaps, the nuclear silos are hiding somewhere in some of our mountains.

My grandfathers on both sides have narrated to us the horrors of the Second World War, which also affected all of us in Cagayan de Oro and Mindanao. My grandpa, Mariano Tabique-Bacarro or “Anoy” as he was fondly called by Cagayanon friends, together with his family and the Ilongga widow of the late Mayor Gaston and their two children, evacuated immediately aboard carabao-drawn carts when he learned that the Japanese had made a surprise attack on the American forces at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. The neighbors laughed when they saw my grandpa’s family evacuate towards Pualas, Libona, Bukidnon. They thought he was joking. Then, after a week, the Japanese planes started bombing Cagayan de Oro, strafing the then  Ateneo de Cagayan.

While at Pualas, they all suffered from malaria and malnutrition, and all of them were bedridden, except my mother, Helen Cababaros-Bacarro-Carrasco, who was eating a lot of “dinog”  and guava leaves to survive.

My grandpa on my father’s side, the late Segundo Carrasco Sr.,  husband of the late Natividad Gabor-Velez, decided to stay around the city instead of evacuating. Because of malnutrition and disease they were all bedridden at the Tomas Saco St. area, near the place of the Kaufmann’s. One day, as they lay in bed, suffering and hungry, a Japanese military official came up to their house, and offered them a cauldron of rice and monggo cooked in coconut milk. At that time, cats and dogs would quickly run away when they saw human beings for fear of becoming instant barbecues.

Meantime, while the heyday is here, let’s enjoy our barbecues, and thank God!

 (Mariano B. Carrasco is a lawyer based in Cagayan de Oro.)