Filipino blogger prompts giving of e-flowers to mall blast victims

FILIPINO blogger Ding Fuellos thought nobody would notice his simple act of extending his sympathies for the families who have lost a loved one during last week’s mall blast that killed 11 people.

“Everyone seems to be blogging about what happened, to the point of pointing fingers to every possible suspect in the country. Everyone is busy trying to know what the cause of the blast was. Every blogger is interested on the political angle, and its repercussions, too mechanical, too cognitive. But no one is paying attention to the mourners themselves. I would have written my own blog about this incident but what counted more was the fact that there seems to be no one expressing their sympathy to the families of the victims,” he said in an e-mail interview.

Fuellos, author of the Inkblots: Life Unraveled blog, has urged bloggers to offer their prayers and post a photo of a flower in their blogs.

Initially, the response was not very encouraging.

He decided to make a similar call on Flickr, an online photo sharing service.

He wrote in his blog, “Waiting for a few hours, and when no one heeded my call to show sympathy to the bereaved, I asked 3 of my Flickr groups (Semana Santa Filipinas, Pinoycentric, and Pinoy Kodakero) to post their flower photos as a sign of sympathy to the bereaved. I was surprised with the response. I believe these people are very busy, yet they found the time to post something for the Glorietta victims’ families. Many have already responded, and I hope there would be more in the coming hours/days. I never thought it is possible. We usually/ normally send real flowers. But this time, we realize e-flowers will make it possible!”

To date, he said that more than 30 people have posted photos of flowers to support his cause.

“As of now, there are 32 photographers who have posted their photos. At least two have posted more than 1 photo. We still have small number but I am praying there would be more,” he said.

Fuellos said he wanted the families of the victims of the Glorietta 2 mall blast to see the outpouring of sympathy from different people.

“They can access the Internet and see for themselves the number of people from different parts of the world who pay their last respects for the dead and show sympathy to the bereaved. If I have my way, I would go to at least one of those who are mourning to give a real flower. I have always believed that blogging will always play a vital role in our lives and I thought of running this and see if we can achieve something by blogging and gather kind-hearted people who will show their sympathy,” he added.

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