On being less orderly: Brief reflections on the death of Sec. Jesse Robredo

I don't know why I am affected so much by Sec. Jesse Robredo's plane crash and death. I do not know the man personally and have not followed his career save for a few news features and articles. But he seemed to me, like to almost everyone else, as a down-to-earth person who means well.

My friends have insisted, amid my defense, that I am not the best test of character. However I think Robredo's net goodness goes beyond the normal human being's and that it is not a mistake that he is respected and wished well in his untimely death.

I admire him not only for his gentle and humble demeanor but also for his work. He was on the right track. His achievements and legacy as a public servant got me thinking, over the last 3 days of their searching for him around the coast of Masbate, about how we need more people like him to take up influential roles in nation building, whether in government, civil society, or the private sector. Our country lost a good man and I hope that his life and death inspires many to follow in his footsteps and fill leadership gaps.

I recently listened to a podcast once about planning your funeral and which suggests hiring a physicist to speak at your wake to explain that, scientifically, death is not a curtailing of life, but is a natural occurrence which releases life from our physical bodies into other forms. Energies of people who have passed on are no longer housed in flesh-and-blood cages but are still here in this earth, in and around us, perhaps very much like the Beatles song.  If this were true, which I am wont to believe, I should not worry too much. The Secretary's energy is sure to be felt and picked up by people who will be called to do as he has done.