Trina Etong, Ted Failon’s deceased wife, was cremated at around 11:00 a.m. (Phil. time) today. She has left this world, her suicide creating more, instead of solving, problems. While she is (probably) no longer bothered by this material world, her family, on the other hand, is left to suffer the fate that she has bestowed upon them. It appears that her method of dealing with her demons has caused the creation of demons for her family. In the end, suicide is not a solution after all.

It’s not that I blame Trina for the troubles that have been heaped upon her household. But it cannot be denied: her death has become the cross which Ted Failon and their kids must carry for the rest of their lives.

I was watching the news this evening. ABS-CBN was showing the footage of Failon’s youngest daughter crying out to her dead mother. It was heartbreaking. The pain of losing a parent in itself is devastating, even more so when the cause of the loss is the parent herself. I cannot even begin to surmise what went through Trina’s head to push her to such an extreme. But I can only wonder if she even thought of her children when she committed such a selfish act.

Taking one’s own life is indeed a selfish act. There is no other way to classify it. A person taking the easy way out for him/her to escape/avoid/end his/her problem. Such a solution does not take into account the people who care for him/her, those who will suffer, those who will live with the trauma. On the other hand, for the person who has taken his/her own life, there is no longer anything to worry about.

While I cannot even pretend to have an inkling as to the solution to Trina’s problem (whatever that may be or however hard it may have been), but I am certain I can never forget her youngest child’s cry at her deathbed.