WASHED AWAY Residents walk past debris, a giant statue and restaurant boat swept away along the Marikina river outside Manila. Hundreds of thousands of exhausted Philippine flood survivors endured squalor in schools, gymnasiums and other makeshift shelters as the death toll from the weekend disaster soared to 240. (Photo: Ted Alijibe / AFP-Getty via Time Magazine)There will be a lot of finger-pointing and blame shifting and political opportunism with this tragedy. But, at the risk of sounding maudlin, it's important to remember the innate goodness of people who have no political or opportunistic agendas. They are not politicians or movie stars. They are people who work hard and will continue to work hard after losing everything they have.
SAFETY’S EMBRACE A Filipino boy is carried to safety through floodwaters in Manila. (Photo: Jay Directo / AFP via the Guardian)These are the people who, despite the temptation to sink into despair, rallied around their brothers and neighbors. These are the people we ought to learn from, because it is through them that we see that hope shines even in the darkest tragedy.
