By: Telly Gonzaga-Ocampo
The Road to Damascus
I remember the movie, The Schindler’s list. That was long long ago when the Bohol Quality Corporation had its theater in the upper floors of the building. My friend Dory and I went to see the movie due to a good review I have read from the Pauline’s magazine.
I just don’t know why I’m very interested in the travels and journeys of the Jewish people. It might be because i read the novels of Danielle Steele, Cynthia Freeman and Belva Plain. I used to collect their books but most of them were eaten by a colony of termites after typhoon Odette ravaged Bohol. And now, I have only less than half of my original collection.
Schindler was the director of prison in Auschwitz. Hitler’s goal was to annihilate the jewish people and they brought them to Auschwitz. People were encamped, enslaved, deprived of food and water and treated in the most inhuman way. Imagine killing them alive in the gas chamber. Kumoton gyud imong kasingkasing nga motan-aw sa kabangis nga gi-aguman sa mga Jewish people. Families were separated; women and children were abducted and thrown into the gas chamber; and properties were looted. It was cruelty in its highest degree.
Dory and I never thought of the heaviness of emotions that would inevitably be poured into the movie. Kuwangan gyud kaayo ang mga tissue paper sa mga luha nga ming agas sa among mga aping. But what really seared our heart was the scene when Schindler was on top of a hill at the break of dawn. He was looking down below where many people were lining to wait for their forced turn to be thrown into the gas chamber. He had his road to Damascus like Saul in the bible. He was jolted by a lightning. It was God’s way of changing and softening his heart.
That “on top of the hill” portion was the scene in the movie that was the peak of our mixed emotions for Dory and me. Maayo na lang kay i have my shawl with me. One end was mine and the other end was held by Dory. Tears just flowed uncontrollably. We could not stop our tears especially that part where relatives and families wrote on the stone the names of those saved by Schindler. The people created a memorial for the victims.
The situation in Auschwitz is a far, far cry from what is happening to former president Rodrigo “Digong” Duterte. Imagine his travel in the private jet on his way to the Netherlands was a long haul. To make moments light, he was asked for coca-cola or juice. No coke no juice in a private chartered jet???? My husband was diabetic. We always saw to it that there was coke or juice in the ref.
I’m not a fan of the man, but this time I have my heart for him. The crimes he purportedly committed must be faced by him. Let justice be done though Heavens fall. This might be God’s way for him to reflect on the sins and pains inflicted on the victims of extrajudicial killings and on the ICC language, a “crime against humanity”.
In Schindler’s list, “when you save a life, you save the world divine.”
To former president Duterte, this must be your Road to Damascus. We have an ever forgiving God who promised paradise to the thief in Calvary. A peaceful, joyful, and happy birthday, President Digong.
