Soul Sister

I don't know a lot of things, i blame it on my lack of interest in watching the news. Being a UP student my brother said i am obliged to have something to say about the current issues and events in our country. And embarrassed, i mostly have nothing relevant to say.

But regarding Cris Anthony Mendez' death and the perpetual bloodshed among supposedly "brothers" i have more than enough to write about. When one of my friends announced his decision to join one of UP's most prestigious fraternities and said that nothing we say will stop him, I only said "don't die." he assured me his survival, the physical pain he can endure he said, if there's anything that scares him, it's his academic grades as the initiation process, that i think lasted more than a week, was the same week as his exams. i believed in him, but mostly i was scared. the first night of waiting for his arrival, i was thinking, that that was what everyone thought, that they can survive the initiation, the public humiliation and the hazing otherwise who would've joined? but still, many went down to join those in the list of fraternity deaths, including now, Chris Anthony Mendez.

Patricia Evangelista said, "I do not understand what sort of twisted logic can make intelligent men believe that friendship and loyalty need to be proven through a brutal initiation." i don't either. the reason why i never joined any organizations and sororities that involve anything physical is because time will not heal the memories as they do with bruises. in the back of my head the persons i will shake hands with will always be those persons who blindfolded me and hit me. they will remain the haunters of my dreams and shall never be my friends.


as i am at the moment in the apartment sofa trying to imagine Cris' moments before his decision that later on led to his death, what was he thinking? was he sitting on the tip of his bed thinking that this will give him good connections? that this will help him have a better future?
what future? those who promised they could help had already taken that from him.

what will 30 days of suspension do? will it bring back a good man's life? will it bring back a son? a brother? a friend? no. instead, in a few years time another name will hit the papers, another death will be told, because we still haven't found a way to stop this violent tests of friendship and loyalty. loyalty, now that's a bit funny, if Cris would've lived, Sigma Rho would've stood by him the way they now cover up those who have killed him. but no, because he died, he was left in the emergency room by those responsible, he was denied of having gone through the initiation process and this, this is what we call brotherhood.