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A Plea for a Happy Christmas
as
pleaded by Janjan Perez
(this
article would soon be published in the Philippine Daily Inquirer. I hope.)
This year everyone in our country will be experiencing a bleak Christmas.
Somehow that does not surprise me anymore. The recent Christmases since the close of the Ramos administration up until now in the present Estrada administration has been showing a pattern of belt-tightening holiday practices. Our nation has been poor for so long that we're already getting accustomed to and anticipating the bleak holidays.
Do you remember the good old days of Christmases long past? I know I do. There was a time back when I was a little boy that our Christmas tree was always overflowing with presents. A good chunk of these presents had my name on it. I probably received around 5 brand new toys, countless articles of clothing, and volumes of books as gifts... and these came from my parents alone! You should see what I got when you add what all of my other relatives gave to me.
I also remember the eating... oh what a feast we used to have day after day during those Christmas holidays. Parties here and there, left and right with much feasting and merry-making all around. Everybody was smiling, everybody was singing Christmas carols, and everybody was engaged in celebration!!!
Sigh. Nothing lasts forever.
Things began changing after I graduated from high school. Money was getting harder to come by, and things were getting strained in my family due to a lot of pressures and strains from the environment. There was so much squabbling going on! There were family problems to deal with, the prices of commodities were getting higher and I was just beginning to cope with a lot of changes in my life. That was probably the lowest point in my life, the Christmas of 1995. My family had just migrated to the United States, and we were miserable. The rest of my relatives had ostracized us and it was the first time in my life that I was spending a Christmas eve not being surrounded by cousins, aunts and uncles and a whole lot of family. It was the first Christmas in my life that I did not receive any gift from my parents because we were so hard up. I was just so miserable that I locked myself up in a dark corner and cried.
I find it ironic that the most miserable Christmas of my life was also the most meaningful one. Once God took away everything that made my Christmas complete, I began to find what Christmas was really all about.
Filipinos, look at us now. Once again, we are tightening our belt and settling down to eat instant noodles for Noche Buena. Once again, department stores will engage in cutthroat sales just to drive customers to deplete their overstocked inventories. Once again, our poor laborers will be laid off by their equally desperate employers just when the season of gift-giving and 13th month salaries comes around. Once again, despite the bleak outlook of our economic future, we are going to grin weakly and do our best to brace for the worst. Once again we wonder... should Christmas even be remembered?
I tell you this as a survivor who has hit rock-bottom and seen the worst... we are truly blessed. Think about it. Think about Christmas with all the merriment, all the glitter, all the hype about white holidays and all the hokey urges to spend, spend, spend.
Now imagine if we make do without that. Take away all the tinsel, all the fake plastic trees, all the gifts, all the songs about Santa Claus and snow, all the things that make for a bright and special Christmas and tell me, what have we got?
We are left with each other.
And that my friend, is why we are blessed. That is why God loves the Philippines so much that He is giving us a whole lot of hardships this coming Christmas season. He wants to remind us that we still have each other. Take away all the distractions and we begin to find out what's really important. So what if there aren't a thousand and one gifts under the Christmas tree with your name on it? Hug your parents and your siblings. They are the real gifts. So what if you can't have lechon de leche for Noche Buena? Drink a glass of water and offer a toast to your health. The fact that we are alive is already a cause for celebration and thanksgiving.
My friends, all that is happening now in the little island called Philippines is merely a reflection of what happened countless centuries ago in a little town called Bethlehem. They too were undergoing persecution and hardships under the regime of a heartless tyrant. They too were witnessing the slaughter of poor young innocents. They too had a family with no place to stay and no warm shelter with which to lay a little child's head on. And yes my friends, they too were blessed.
Amidst all the squalor and turmoil in Bethlehem, unto them a child was born and with Him, a hope for all humanity.
This Christmas, I pray that you too may see the joy hidden underneath all the pain, suffering and loneliness that our hard times bring. My brother and sister Filipinos, look for that joy waiting to be discovered in the silence. Look for that full meaning... that blessedness this coming Christmas, and remember... we have every reason to be happy. So be happy.
God bless us. Everyone.
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Janjan Perez, 22, wishes you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
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