27 December 2005
EDITORIAL: How celebrate Christmas?
THE merriest of seasons just doesn’t seem to be so anymore. Most people equate this sordid situation to the absence of money in their pockets and a depleted or zero balance in their bank accounts. Things have gotten so money-centered and money-driven in the world that happiness – or contentment –can’t be had with just a few pesos on hand; it has to be by the thousands to bring on a smile and buy bagfuls of Christmas goodies from the supermarket.
Outside of dying, the next most tragic thing that can happen at Christmas is to be sick and confined in a hospital while the rest of the world outside sing carols, eat and drink and make merry to celebrate what the Catholic world regards as the birthdate of jesus Christ.
To be caught in such condition and location on Christmas is so dreadful that we know of some who would bear the pain, fight the medical symptoms and postpone going to the hospital till after Christmas. In any case, the moment they finally go into post-Christmas treatment or consultation, the luckier ones get attended to on time yet; the less luckier ones only manage to delay the inevitable – a surgery, an extended medical confinement or the morgue.
Such morbid thoughts at Yuletide, you say?
But that precisely is what runs in the minds of our less fortunate brethren out there who cannot observe, much less, enjoy Christ’s birth with al the varied problems and economic difficulties besetting them and their families. Christmas is for the poor as much as it is for the children, they say. For the children who have their whole future ahead of them, spending an austere Christmas one year wouldn’t matter much – the next year is always a source of hope. For the poor who are at the very end of their economic rope that’s burning from both ends, it would always be one miserable Christmas after another. How long they can bear the deprivation and depression before they totally snap, only God in His Infinite Wisdom knows.
On this most celebrated event of the year in all of Humankind, let us pause and ask ourselves – What have we really done for them, our less fortunate brethren, to ease their burden and wipe away their tears? There lies the true meaning of this special day, one that exalts not riches or fame but the dignity of every man He created on Earth.
Outside of dying, the next most tragic thing that can happen at Christmas is to be sick and confined in a hospital while the rest of the world outside sing carols, eat and drink and make merry to celebrate what the Catholic world regards as the birthdate of jesus Christ.
To be caught in such condition and location on Christmas is so dreadful that we know of some who would bear the pain, fight the medical symptoms and postpone going to the hospital till after Christmas. In any case, the moment they finally go into post-Christmas treatment or consultation, the luckier ones get attended to on time yet; the less luckier ones only manage to delay the inevitable – a surgery, an extended medical confinement or the morgue.
Such morbid thoughts at Yuletide, you say?
But that precisely is what runs in the minds of our less fortunate brethren out there who cannot observe, much less, enjoy Christ’s birth with al the varied problems and economic difficulties besetting them and their families. Christmas is for the poor as much as it is for the children, they say. For the children who have their whole future ahead of them, spending an austere Christmas one year wouldn’t matter much – the next year is always a source of hope. For the poor who are at the very end of their economic rope that’s burning from both ends, it would always be one miserable Christmas after another. How long they can bear the deprivation and depression before they totally snap, only God in His Infinite Wisdom knows.
On this most celebrated event of the year in all of Humankind, let us pause and ask ourselves – What have we really done for them, our less fortunate brethren, to ease their burden and wipe away their tears? There lies the true meaning of this special day, one that exalts not riches or fame but the dignity of every man He created on Earth.
