Christmas wishes for a nation in VUCAFIDS

Aside from our personal prayers for good health, peace in the family, and enough resources for our needs, we also pray for our nation which is facing an era of VUCAFIDS; volatility, unpredictability, complexity, ambiguity, fast pace, intense interactions, digital operations, and sneaky events and developments. Our country and people are facing all these challenges and may not be able to cope with what a famous author, Alvin Toffler, predicted 50 years ago, to give us some future shock as we witness the third wave of socio-economic and digital revolutions that push our people to a power shift.

Our nation today is being led by baby boomers and yet more than two-thirds of our population are young millennials and Generation X and Generation Y Filipinos. The leaders of politics, industries and business, education, and even the church and civil society are clinging to the values of old but the demands of the times compel us to embrace new realities that are alien to the character of our people by tradition, mores, and culture. And so, there is a disconnect between our leaders and those who are being led. There is a constant tension in all sectors of Philippine society, and in all facets of human endeavors. Well, I concede that we need to cling to our values because they are our roots and our foundations. But we need also to imbibe the wings of change driven by digital technology.

This Christmas, therefore, we need to reflect on how to achieve a viable balance between the imperatives of change driven by VUCAFIDS, on the one hand, and the need to keep our values intact so that we preserve our unique national identity as Asians and as Filipinos, on the other hand. Values like hard work and “malasakit” should be preserved because their need transcends generations, time, and geography. We need to preserve the “bayanihan” spirit the culture of self-help and mutual help, the need to come together and hold hands together in the midst of calamities, disasters and crises. We need to preserve our sense of “dangal,” “hiya,” “palabra de honor,” and other positive values as Filipinos.

This Christmas we should think beyond our family. We should remember our village associations, our barangays, our communities, our towns, and our provinces. Let us pray for and support our leaders and our neighbors. Let us spread the good news of the messiah by spreading around good cheer and share our blessings with the less fortunate people. Within a radius of five hundred meters from our homes, there are families who are still struggling where to get their noche buena or their dinner. Let us not forget them, and be filled with mercy and compassion for the poor.

No matter what happens to the world, we are still Christians who are called to help others, express the love of Jesus through our kind and compassionate acts of charity. Have a blessed Christmas to one and all then.