Today's papers all carried a piece on Alex Santiago's burial. And I read all of them with mixed emotions. On one hand, I couldn't understand why somebody so young at 22 like him would take his life with a gun so I wanted to understand or at least take on morsels of personal details that come far and in between. On another hand, there's a noble voice behind my back that tells me I should always make myself available for my friends in case they needed help.Or even when they don't ask for it, I should cultivate a heart that feels things with them.
If you were like me who got so intrigued with Alex's death, you know that there's nothing new about him to find in the papers other than what was written about him before: 22, single male, youngest son of an ex-senator, in law school. No article featured him more than these basic descriptions. This drove some people to even think that he was probably gay and had a hard time dealing with it. I didn't like how this sounded because it makes me rage in deep frustration personally knowing the hurt of going through something so depressing and there's no one to even share this.
I think my detective-researcher instinct suddenly reminded me that one of the hottest in-things these days might just offer help. Friendster gave me a refreshing find. Like all of the young people in Manila, Alex too was on Friendster.
I'm still catching my breath with some new details I learned about him: That his last login was on 19 November 2003, a day before his suicide. Police said he was likely dead midnight of the 20th, which made me think he was likely doing Friendster up until the last minute. Doing what? I don't know, but there's something unnerving about certain entries he had. For instance,
Occupation: Attempted Law Student, Dead Man Walking
Interests: Goodbyes
Who I Want To Meet: Let's hope it's Saint Peter on the other side.
Urrggghhh. It's creepy!!
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