Christmas wishes

Christmas is the most magical and ironical time of the year. It is the happiest and saddest of times, the most divine yet the most commercial, the most munificent or the most miserly. It is the spell when love or loneliness thrives or consumes. It is the occasion for taking stock of one’s life, or at times forlornly taking one’s own life. What is it about Christmas that opens up the heart of hearts and makes it more vulnerable?

Interestingly, the history of this holiday is in itself a paradox. Most Christians believe that December 25 is the actual day that Jesus was born, calculated nine months after the Annunciation when the Blessed Virgin Mary was singled out to be the Mother of Christ. Some scholars have challenged this notion. They submit that in the 4th century, the Roman Church chose the day that coincided with the winter solstice, supposedly the “birthday” of Sol Invictus. They allege that the assignment of December 25 as Christmas day was a clever ruse to replace the pagan celebration called “Bruma”. 

The rites of Christmastide vary from gift giving, putting up trees, lights, stockings and mistletoe, singing of carols, Santa Claus, Simbang Gabi, and Noche Buena. But the universal theme remains the same whatever faith or country one belongs to. It is the ardent universal hope that the coming year will be better than the one gone by. The wish is backed by resolve to do whatever it takes to achieve one’s definition of “better”, hence the ubiquitous New Year’s Resolutions.

In the SWS survey taken December 5-10, six out of ten Filipinos expect to be happy this Christmas while one out of ten foresees sadness. The rest expect to be neither happy nor sad. Mahar Mangahas noted that these percentages were a far cry from the past, when 4 out of 5 Filipinos expected to be in high Yuletide spirits. I can only surmise that poverty, Diaspora and the general weakening of the nuclear family, is taking its toll on the happiness index of the Filipino.

In the same survey, SWS measured the degree of hope versus fear in welcoming the coming year. Nine out of ten Filipinos are hopeful that the quality of life will improve in the coming year. It seems like the unsinkable Filipino optimism has no correlation with their anticipated glee or gloom for the season. The buoyancy might also be connected with the high satisfaction rating given to P-Noy. Seven out of ten Filipinos are pleased with his leadership, with a net satisfaction rating of 64 percent, up from 60 percent despite the hostage crisis. In the SWS scorecard, this ranks as a “very good” rating.

In stark contrast, his predecessor’s dismal ratings earned her the label of worst performing president. Arroyo hit a record low of -53 percent in April 2010, putting her in the SWS score bracket of “very bad”. She also holds the record of the most consistent negative ratings from the period August 2004, the aftermath of the “Hello Garci” scandal up to the time she finally stepped down in June 2010. None of her predecessors from Cory Aquino, Fidel Ramos, or even Joseph Estrada ever had a negative rating in their entire tenure. Not surprisingly, the one that seems to be following the same path is Chief Justice Renato Corona who has a 32 percent dissatisfaction rating for a negative net satisfaction rating of -5 percent, so early in his term of office.

Obviously not everyone agrees with the vote of confidence that Filipinos have given the Aquino government. Clearly this does not make everyone happy. In fact, his popularity can be grating on those that have not received the people’s approval. So wittingly or not, there seems to be an effort to blow up every foible from every government department or agency in order to project a bumbling, fumbling headship. And while no one will argue that there is always room for improvement of leadership skills and style, the constant carping from critics, picked up and magnified even more by Media, is hindering our country’s potential.

While the signs of an improving economy, investor confidence and poverty alleviation are already showing, the headlines scream about errors on the new peso bills! There’s no mistaking the innuendo that this is yet another sign of incompetence. By the way, the BSP project started three years ago, when P-Noy was not even a beep on the Presidential radar! It is true that we can be our worst enemy, and our worst punishment.

So if Christmas is indeed the time for making wishes come true, then Citizen Y casts the following:

— For P-Noy, that his innate kindness and goodness of heart be augmented by objectivity, a firmer hand and a results-oriented leadership.

— For the President’s men and women, that they may put the interests of many above their own, that they will enhance rather than burden P-Noy’s good governance, that they will have the wisdom and judgment to perceive the difference.

— For Senate President Enrile and Speaker Belmonte, that they continue to use their experience and expertise to guide the Senate and Congress respectively and fast track the progress of the country

— For Chief Justice Renato Corona, to be above politics, dispense true justice and perform his mandate with integrity.

— For Former PGMA, that she may receive the gift of enlightenment and acceptance so she can begin a sincere effort to repair any damage she may have inflicted on the country and leave a better legacy.

— For our beloved country, that the Philippines can finally recover from being the sick man of Asia and transform into a self-reliant nation that Filipinos can believe in and be proud of.

— For Citizens A to Z, that we may be part of the solution and not the problem. May we do our share in making our country best it can be!

Merry Christmas. It’s your choice.

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