7, 28, and 46 Years Later

My mom and I recently remembered my Aunt Mila, who I always called "Mommy". Mommy passed away more than seven years ago due to complications from her cancer, an illness that doctors say is not always genetic but nevertheless has taken the lives of many members of my maternal family. While records of death were not always detailed during the Spanish period, they later started including common causes of death like calentura (fever), tisis (TB), and others, which allowed me to discover that the first one in the clan to have cancer as a cause of death was Petrona Lucero who died in January 1895 while her sister, Telesfora, followed next on 23 August 1914, who were first cousins of my great-great-grandfather. Armed with this knowledge, this has made me more paranoid about having the possibility of getting it eventually. Cancer is a sneaky disease; one moment you're fine and the next it attacks you.

Speaking of cancer, the disease was a sub-plot in the recently-released movie “28 Years Later”, the third in the '28' movie franchise: 28 Days Later in 2002, 28 Weeks Later in 2007, and this recent one this year. Without spoiling it for those who haven't seen it yet, suffice it to say that the protagonist of the movie, a boy named Spike, who grew up 28 years after the Rage virus devastated the United Kingdom, escaped with his very sick mother who we later discover was most likely suffering from cancer. While the movie is but make-believe, it is once again a reminder of what happens when humanity continues to do what it is doing today.

The movie also reminds me of what's happening in the world today, especially with the Iran-Israel conflict. In the movie, Spike was behaving exactly like many of the Iranian and Israeli leaders who think only about winning and getting what they want at the expense of their people. Civilians, children, women suffering because of bombings and air strikes that many times either were intentionally targeted at hospitals or other non-military installations or just plain misguided missile strikes. Whatever the case, it is always the innocents who suffer the most while leaders like the ayatollah are safely ensconced somewhere where he remains untouched. While President Donald Trump has claimed they know exactly where Ayatollah Khamenei is hiding, they have yet to do something about it. The ayatollahs' strict laws and often absolute control over the entire Iranian population 46 years ago has led to many Iranian families to leave their country.

After the 1979 deposition of the Shah and rise to power of the ayatollahs, thousands of Iranians left Iran to escape the rigidity of their new rulers. According to 2021 estimates, around 4,037,258 Iranians are found elsewhere than their home country, while 1,500 of these are in the Philippines. While these figures include students who are not part of the original or descendants of the Iranian diaspora, many of these still long to see their homeland someday.

Now, the United States has joined in the conflict and President Trump has recently announced that the US military has bombed three nuclear sites in Iran. The world has heard the threat and warning Ayatollah Khamenei stated days ago, but he was vague about what will happen next. We don't know how long the conflict between Iran and Israel, and now with the United States, this time. What we know is that more and more people are killed every day and that the price of gasoline is expected to increase or perhaps already increased drastically. Like the rest of the world, all we can do is wait, and pray for an end to the hostilities.