Hopelessly optimistic people

Traditions are really hard to break. People cannot simply be stopped from doing what they have been accustomed to do over the years. One of them is the way of saying good bye to the year about to end and welcoming the New Year at the stroke of midnight on December 31 of every year by making all sorts of noises foremost of which are the exploding of firecrackers and lighting of fireworks or all sorts of pyrotechnics.

To be sure such practice is not bad per se. Based on folklores and legends noise making to welcome the New Year is a way of driving the evil spirits and getting rid of the bad luck, misfortunes and calamities happening in the past so they won’t occur anymore in the coming years. The louder the noise the farther will they be driven away.

At the outset, this kind of New Year’s Eve celebration was relatively harmless. The various pyrotechnics exploded and lighted then, were of the type that did not imperil life or limb. Over the years however, the sale of these pyrotechnics has become big business thus leading to the manufacture and even importation of more sophisticated and complicated devices creating louder but unbearable noises and spectacular displays of bright and colorful lights. As a result, the products have become not only more and more expensive but also harmful to environment and lethal to life and limb.

Hence in the last few years, despite safety precautions and warnings, the casualties and damages during the New Year celebration have remained high or even continue to rise. This is further aggravated by the indiscriminate firing of guns by civilians and even policemen at the height of the merry making. Because of these alarming developments, Congress deemed it wise to enact a law, (R.A. 7169) prohibiting the manufacture, sale, distribution and use of dangerous fireworks and other pyrotechnics. Stern warnings have also been issued on violators. But it seems that like other laws, this law is more honored in breach than in observance especially during the New Year’s Eve celebration when our law enforcers are looking the other way.

Perhaps it is really hard to break a tradition by the sweeping stroke of the legislative pen and the tentative reaches of the short arm of the law enforcers. It will be better for all of us to look beyond the purely human and vain reason behind the noisy celebration that is primarily based on folklore and legends. We can start looking at the event more from the spiritual point of view and see that New Year’s Eve is the seventh day in the octave of Christmas, the last day of the calendar year when we commemorate the mystery of Incarnation, of Jesus becoming man and living among us (the Word made flesh). Then the following day, the first day of the year, we commemorate Mother Mary becoming the Mother of God whose “yes” to Him is the reason why we have Christmas. So we can still focus our minds and hearts on the immortal messages of Christ’s birth and the many blessings we have received from Him as we enter into another year.

The year 2011 really seems to be longer in coming especially to the victims of the natural calamities and disasters particularly typhoon Pedring in September that wrought damages in the North including Metro Manila, and the recent typhoon Sendong that claimed more than a thousand lives in Mindanao. Nature’s wrath was really quite intense and the major part of the blame belongs to us because we have not taken good care of the environment and we remain unprepared for such calamities despite knowing that we are located within the “typhoon belt”. We ended the year and begin 2012 obviously with a prevailing mood conveying the message that we are “glad it’s all over”.

Indeed people are just raring to see the dawn of a new year full of hope by junking all the bad and harrowing experiences of the year that was. This resurgent feeling is confirmed by the latest SWS survey indicating that 95% of Pinoys face the New Year with hope despite the dismal global economic forecasts and the series of natural and man-made disasters that hit the country in 2011.

Filipinos indeed are optimistic people. They always find enough reasons to be thankful for the year that has just ended, and to be hopeful for the year about to begin despite the many setbacks, ordeals and tragedies that happened to them. Apparently this trait is borne out of their strong faith that “in everything God works for the good of those who love Him, whom He has called according to his plan” (Romans 8:28). We can always cope with hardships and endure difficulties because “God allows those things to happen to draw out the good from them”; because “everything is for the good” (Omnia in bonum, “The Way” by St Josemaria Escriva).

“Everything is for the good” may indeed be the appropriate slogan we need during these trying and difficult times. But the good in everything that takes place only comes out if and when we act to prevent the recurrence of what is clearly evil or wrong happening around us. Some concrete measures should be adopted so that we can sustain this cheerful and hopeful outlook.

On top of the list is the improvement of our disaster preparedness. It is common knowledge that our country is at the center of the typhoon belt. So we have to acquire a more accurate and sophisticated storm tracker and early warning device to enable people in the path of a destructive storm to seek shelter in a safer place before and not after the calamity has occurred.

Then it is also about time that our government should tap experts in building typhoon resistant shelters to do away with the types of houses blown or washed away by typhoons, Permanent relocation of informal settlers in danger zones must also be undertaken.

Of course an honest to goodness, lasting and effective environmental protection program must be drawn up. It is about time that we should break the pattern of mere lip service and press releases calling for investigations after every killer landslides and mudslides have occurred which continue to recur because nothing comes out of the investigation after the furor has died down.

Finally concrete steps must be adopted for the attainment of long lasting peace that has eluded us for so many years now. This administration should give equal attention to this problem instead of concentrating only on the fight against graft and corruption. For, it is only when we have lasting   peace can we have real prosperity.

A HAPPY NEW YEAR WITH ABUNDANT BLESSINGS TO ALL!