It's no surprise that when listening to the evening news you will occasionally hear about the untimely death of famous personalities, whether by peaceful or not-so-peaceful ways.

Though recently I've been disturbed by the recent headlines that have been flashed in the past few nights. It's certainly not the first time that two major personalities have had some tragic developments, but for me these were just downright nasty. The murder of Ram Revilla, for example was a very disturbing story to air on the news, as well as the murder of the father of the popular singer Charice Pempengco. It's not my first time to hear about those kinds of stories in the news, but these one's made me question the current state of our society. I don't want to say that most Filipinos are like criminals, but with the recent incidents I'm afraid that it can't be helped, especially to the minds of the foriegners that visit our country. It's times like these that I start to wonder, "Just how much more lives must we lose before people realize that violence and hatred only breed a cycle of vengeance and conflict?"

My condolences to the families of the Revillas and the Pempengcos.