YOU GOT MAIL
Does God still speak to men?
He does, by e-mail.
I have three e-mail accounts. One is Eudora with my Internet service provider. The other is the Web-based freemail courtesy of Hotmail. I use both to send and receive messages from friends and strangers all over the world, mostly Filipinos and mostly from the U.S.
The other e-mail is exclusive and internal to our company. Called "Intranet," we use it to communicate with managers and employees in Manila, Bacolod, Davao, etc. It saves us time, money and paper from chasing one another with long distance calls, faxes and memos.
It didn't take long for somebody to start the electronic version of chain letters. Unlike the printed or handwritten variety, this one is easier and cheaper to inflict on other people. Just a few clicks with the mouse and you can forward the e-mail to every Juan, Pedro and Jose in your address book in a matter of seconds.
But like the regular chain letters, most carry closing paragraphs to forward the message to 10 to 50 people so luck will smile on you. It's another way of saying "break this chain and you'll be sorry." There are variations that promise money from Bill Gates of Microsoft if you pass on the letter, or that someone will donate to a cancer institution an amount equivalent to the number of people who participate in the chain.
There are many kinds of chain mail that people like to pass around. At one time naked pics of Ruffa and Donita were the hottest things. The most common are jokes, advisories, tissue requests, and inspirational messages.
Many Pinoy jokes circulating in cyberspace are a retelling of old ones, lifted from graffitti and from board signs, or siyempre, more Eraptions.
Here's a good one from Junie, about reasons not to watch "Rizal" the movie: "Patay na nga yung bida, mali pa ang istorya. Si Rizal hindi namatay sa firing squad. Pinugutan siya ng ulo. Ang ulo niya ay nasa piso."
Advisories are usually admonitions for people to be extra careful. At first these were computer virus alerts. Another advisory warns consumers against certain products. Still another talks about HIV-tainted needles being placed in movie theater seats and pay phone coin slots. These are called "urban legends." Examples of Pinoy urban legends are about balikbayan box scams and dishonest taxi drivers who drug female passengers with overpowering gas from car fresheners. One proposed a conspiracy theory on the Cebu Pacific crash. Unless you know the source or origin, take these reports with a grain of salt.
Tissue requests are tear-jerkers usually about a child sick and dying of cancer. Occasionally a poem, a quotation, or prayer comes with it to prick your conscience and tug at your heartstrings. One such chain-mail was the heart-felt tribute to the schoolchildren and teacher who were shot in Jonesboro, Arkansas.
A paragraph goes this way:
And there are the inspirational messages spawned by but not limited to the best-selling "Chicken Soup for the Soul" series. A thoughtful girl named Myrfi, subscribed me to this free service that I now receive daily. The messages vary but they are all life affirming -- about celebrating life, being thankful for what we have, coping with loss or failure, and learning from our experiences.
Words to live by like, "We have no right to ask when sorrow comes, 'Why did this happen to me?' unless we ask the same question for every moment of happiness that comes our way."
Food for thought like "God won't ask what you did to help yourself. He will ask what you did to help others."
Under this same category we get messages in letter format signed by God or Jesus. The general theme is often of love and forgiveness. Last Christmas one came out griping about how people are making Santa Claus the center of the celebration.
The latest "letter from God" carries this passage:
"Remember you are part of a flawed world. This is what My love is all about -- to love you in your flawed condition ... It was not My way to ask you to be loving before I could love you. And it is not My way to ask you to be loving in order for Me to continue loving you. Your world makes promises based on how well you respond. I love you regardless of your response. Your world changes people, then loves them. I love you first, and along the way, because you are loved, you are changed."
We should know which chain letters to take to heart. After all, God might really be trying to send a message.
January 15, 1999