Have you seen Christmas?

It's the most wonderful time of the year again, they say. There are carols, choirs, bright lights and pine trees which resound and glow in almost every corner of the metropolitan. Christmas gives that cheery feeling with the hope of receiving gifts and dancing (or eating) from one party to another.

An innocent young girl asked the question, "Have you seen Christmas?" She only knows that when the calendar flips to months ending with the suffix "ber", it's Christmas time. But when all the festivity she doesn't really know where to find it.

Someone told her Christmas is felt, not seen. When Jose Mari Chan sings on the radio, then that's it! She shakes her head in dismay, uncontended with the answer. A little boy told her it was about the presents under the tree. She quickly opened the nicely wrapped boxes under the Christmas tree and found expensive toys. She frowned, they were not Christmas. The young girl was furious and desperate to find this abstract concept that she walked away.

With the aftermath of the Super Typhoon Yolanda, I don't think I could stomach a lavish Christmas anymore. There is no giddy feeling of the daily kris kringle knowing that our fellowmen do not have anything to eat. I look at my money and feel that it would have made somebody smile if I bought the affected their basic needs.

Parties make me happy because I get to reconnect with old acquaintances and meet new people. It's a way of socializing while feasting on an expensive platter with entertainment of some sort. Yes, I do enjoy it but I would like to pass this year's merriment if I could. There are other people who need to be happy at this time of the year more than those who could pay.

Just as students, faculty and staff from Dalaguete National High School gave up their Christmas party to donate P26,000 for the relief of those affected, I wish the rest would too. I'm not saying we don't have the right to be happy. It's just that we could experience twice the happiness if we gave away so others may feel loved.

Sacrificial love is both painful and rewarding; Christmas is that. It's about giving up for others and offering hope to their very weary situation. The birth of Jesus Christ gave hope to humankind despite their hardships and wrongdoings. The baby born shed light to those who were lost, pained and in sorrow. Christ was not perfect and not even in the brightest stature but inspired thousands up to this very day.

As December kicks in next week, I bet those who were affected by the tragedy would never look at Christmas the way it was before. There are no more homes to cook a sumptuous dinner in, or a family that was once complete. It will be a huge burden to carry but we can lighten the load because we have the power to.

Yolanda was not really the Grinch, she led us to find Christmas.

The young girl came back so intent to find where Christmas is that I pointed to her heart quickly, she smiled sweetly.

I said to her that her heart will lead her to what she could give to make others happy. Her eyes suddenly grew big in wonder, obviously scanning her head of what she could give. I further explained that Christmas is not about songs, cheery atmosphere, a gargantuan party and expensive gifts but about believing in the dream that the Philippines would rise again. I told her that such dream would be enough to give hope and to make others happy.

She smirked and I gave her a slight push that led her on to the great mass of people who needs to be inspired.

P.S. The young girl was once me. I have learned since then.