Gone so young

Welcome New Year with a bang— but some take it too literally.

And some seven-year old innocent girl’s life will be the price? Stephanie is the latest victim of stray bullet death on New Year’s Eve. She was just watching fireworks with his father outside their home in Manila, unsuspecting that this will be the last time they would be together.

But she is not alone: Another six-year old boy was casualty of gun firing while a 16-year is still in coma. What dreams lost.

Stephanie’s case is not a landmark in the local scene. It happens every year but we haven’t really learned anything, to think that the New Year is supposed to be time for positive change. How ironic.

The family is receiving an outpour of sympathy as the media has intensively covered the story. But cliché as it may sound; no amount of sympathy can bring a life back.

Now, some are recommending a total gun ban during holidays. But there are a million registered firearms in the country— count in more unregistered ones.

Nevertheless, it should make a good a start for better changes to come. May the loss of an innocent life, at least be a way to invoke change. Or else Stephanie’s demise will once again just be a forgotten memory.