Thanksgiving

I’m sitting on a balcony overlooking breathtaking Subic Bay. Wind chimes color the air with gentle music as a playful breeze chases its tail through the trees. The bats dangle lazily in the cool shade of the branches of their kingdom across the street. Birds of every description flit and flare across the baby blue panorama. And I think how wondrous this, God’s handwriting, is.

It is going to be a year fraught with uncertainty, more than the past, what with an election, the Olympics and other major events challenging us. It’s easy to get scared. I’ve spent many a sleepless night worrying how to carry my little family through another month, another week, at times even another day.

So quickly has almost a week gone by in 2004, and what lies ahead? But before we get wrapped up in apprehension, let’s look back at what we have to be grateful for, more than merely surviving. It has been said that Filipinos have no sense of history, and the footprints of titans who walked before us have been blanketed by the dust of forgetting.

Let this modestly prove them wrong.

Thanks to the Philippine Olympic Committee and Philippine Sports Commission for doing their best to work together, albeit grudgingly. With all the work ahead of them — and the distraction of an election staring them in the face — I wish them the fortitude and steel to get the job done, whatever it takes.

Congratulations to Manny Pacquiao, for being an inspiration. In a poor man’s sport exploited by the wealthy and broken into cheaper by the dozen institutions, he made the unofficial title "consensus people’s champion" worth more than any belt.

Salutations to Efren Reyes, Django Bustamante and our billiards campaigners. They have brought their skills back to the local arena, and gave up lucrative tournaments for a stint in the Southeast Asian Games. Both moves were daring, selfless, and patriotic, and went unacknowledged.

Congratulations to the practitioners and promoters of badminton, indoor soccer and flag football. Your passion has been infectious, and has given a new generation of Filipinos reason to get into the game of life.

Kudos to the PBA. It was perhaps the most difficult season of its existence, and it ended with a sigh of relief more than triumph. But through all the controversy, intrigue, witch-hunting and economic challenges, the league plodded on, unbowed.

To all the big winners in other sports, from Paeng Nepomuceno and CJ Suarez, Dorothy Delasin and our lesser-known adventurers abroad, much gratitude.

Most of all, thanks to the Filipino fan, our biggest mirror, harshest critic, most loyal supporter. May God grant us all our biggest wins this year.

For feedback, e-mail bill_velasco@hotmail.com.