Happy New Year everyone! Every New Year means new hope for us. It is a time to review the past year and renew and re-organize what needs to be change.

While majority of humanity is celebrating the holiday, some of us are mourning for the damages and even lost that are caused by the celebration. Here in the Philippines, we watched a lot of news about houses and establishments burned down. Hundreds were also hurt by firecrackers, which is the usual scenario here every year. But the worse I find are the ones hit by stray bullets, especially the 7 year-old girl who’s in a comma right now.

Stephanie, the 7 year-old girl, was hit by the stray bullet while watching fireworks outside their house on the New Year’s Eve. She suddenly fell down when her family thought the she was suffocated by the thick smoke. When they lifted her, they found blood on the head of the already unconscious little girl.

As of this time, there are 20 reported of stray bullet victims.

If the US has shootings in schools, we have trigger-happy gun owners here too. And they have their victims every New Year’s Eve. They also don’t choose who their victims will be, whether they’d be a father and a bread-winner of a family, a defenseless grandfather or grandmother, a conceiving mother, or an innocent child who’s full of dreams.

One of the problems in this case is that the genius who pulled the trigger is hard to catch. They enjoyed the New Year by displaying their power on their equally idiotic friends, or they just simply brag their guns with their moronic companions. They are so brilliant that they don’t realize that the falling bullet is as dangerous as a bullet just got out from the barrel; or they just didn’t care if they will hit anyone. I hope it’s their hollow brain next time. Maybe this is the reason why they feel safe: their brain is too small that it is hard to hit by a bullet.

We should not expect for the suspect to surrender himself without a divine intervention. He will hide himself and will probably do the same thing this year, along with other ‘humble’ and ‘responsible’ gun owners. And many fathers, mothers, friends, and children are on the line to be their next victims. Who knows, it might be you or your loved ones.

Right now, the bullet is still in the girl’s head. Doctors are taking all the precautions because we know how fragile it is to take it out of the girl’s brain.

The girl’s family is asking for financial support, justice, and prayer.

images by: GMA 24 Oras and DZMM Radyo Patrol