Anderson Cooper, the primary anchor of the CNN news show Anderson Cooper 360°, witnessed firsthand the true spirit of the Filipino people when he arrived in Tacloban City five days after it was battered by super typhoon Yolanda (International code: Haiyan). He saw the face of tragedy on every Filipino he met in the now seems to be a wasteland. But he also saw the true Filipino spirit that never fails to shine whenever a calamity happens, even after the most powerful storm ever recorded in history. And with that, Anderson Cooper only has this to say:
“When everything else is taken away, broken, battered, soaked, raw, stripped bare, you see things. You see people as they really are. This week in Tacloban, Samar and Cebu, amidst the hunger and thirst, the chaos and confusion, we’ve seen the best in the Filipino people. Their strength, their courage. I can’t get it out of my mind. Imagine the strength it takes for a mother to search alone for her missing kids, the strength to sleep; on the street near the body of her child.
We’ve seen people with every reason to despair, every right to be angry, instead find ways to laugh, to love, to stand up, to move forward.
A storm breaks wood and bone, brings hurt and heartbreak. In the end, the wind, the water, the horror it brings is not the end of the story.
With aid and assistance, compassion and care, this place, these people…they will make it through. They already survived the worst. They’re bowed, perhaps tired and traumatized, but they are not broken.
Mabuhay Philippines! Maraming salamat for all you’ve shown us. Maraming salamat for showing us all how to live.”