![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZBnyhdlJ8Nc8uhBHub1_26nvsCk0yk3G0G2hEOOtb9zjzOgNdWtHGrwsagvgvEc9gbK6oVZKX6k1_-Bsz2Z0Sagc9OTzzugt8LKJ_-lkf3O0bCPQkEHY_ExxcIXAKKZhVk-TMLw/s320/10625_1227074070332_1033466406_738558_3164877_n.jpg)
This is a photo my aunt took of the aftermath of Typhoon Ondoy in Tatalon, a barrio in Quezon City, Philippines. She posted a complete album on Facebook, which, I guess tellingly enough, is how I found out about it.
The shots are emotionally rending, and only partly because of the devastation. You glimpse kids scavenging, people sorting through rubble, and get a sense of what the day-to-day is like: bitter, even without the exacerbation of a natural catastrophe.
A handful more:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIjDzSi8EJM3IJnByk0JfKIjuWYhzZUN9hiDPJNiYf0yCP6Ce5h6rsJxAgZQg6XgHN1_-GfoNP_QojkdfCuZlv9QOg6s_mW1ris6kSfozxgkRblPC8q3X0hUiiWwKM-UfuU4OH4w/s320/10625_1227074110333_1033466406_738559_2066771_n.jpg)
There's a power in images that manages to bring a tragedy home, but these also take on a personal significance: my parents left that place. They had trouble doing it, and still more trouble carving a new life out of strange soil.
Still, they succeeded, and succeeded so well that I managed to avoid absorbing their experience. Now I'm elsewhere in the world, feeling all down-and-dumpy because I failed to hold up my end of grocery store conversation today.
Perspective: Priceless™! And brought to you by your social network of choice.
Still, they succeeded, and succeeded so well that I managed to avoid absorbing their experience. Now I'm elsewhere in the world, feeling all down-and-dumpy because I failed to hold up my end of grocery store conversation today.
Perspective: Priceless™! And brought to you by your social network of choice.
Help the victims of Typhoon Ondoy at the Philippine National Red Cross site. You can also follow the goings-on in real-time via #typhoonondoy.
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