It was Wednesday (10.12.11), night before my final exam in AMAT171, when I first heard about that shocking news. My roommate Kayecee told us that the girl's body found Tuesday morning near UPLB Campus is then identified. And yes, it was Given Grace Cebanico, BS Computer Science, Batch 2009.
Given Grace -- I don't know her personally. But that name certainly sounds familiar. She was once a classmate of my other roommate Karen and a close friend of my friend Shane. Kung tutuusin, hindi ko talaga siya kilala. But after hearing her name that time, I felt this weird feeling inside of me.
Thursday morning, right after our exam, we went immediately to her funeral in St. Therese. Malayo pa lang ramdam ko na 'yung hinagpis na dinaranas ng pamilya at mga kaibigan niya. I know how it feels to lose someone important, but what makes it worse is how she died. The more I know the story behind her death, the more I hate those people who made this to her.
More than the hatred, a bigger part of me felt fear. Fear that it may happen again. Fear for the possibility that it may happen again to someone close to me or even to me. I may sound a little bit paranoid but I can't avoid thinking of these things. The place which I believe is one of the safe place in this country suddenly became the a strange one for me. I wish I can avoid this mindset. But when I think of the part that UPLB students and Given share the same things -- projects, late night walk, etc. I can't stop feeling this fear inside of me. I hate those people who treat her that way. But who am I to condemn them? Who am I to judge them?
To quote Pastor Jun Cebanico's (Given's father) statement, "We don't understand but God understands." An inspiring thought that should ponder in each and every mind. Let us just believe that things happen for a reason. For whatever reason it may serve, I hope all of us can learn from it.
Given Grace. Such a lovely name. She may not be a given grace to some of us or to some people who don't even know her. But I know, she is the best grace her family has received. A grace that was given by Him.
