Holidays

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I DON’T know if environmentalists heaved a deep sigh of relief when President Rody Duterte appointed Gina Lopez as environment secretary. I’m not privy to their grapevine, thus, how would I know?

But here’s one thing she said that convinced me they should celebrate her appointment. The Department of Environment and Natural Resources had a press conference last Oct. 21. The topic: Lopez wants to gauge the progress in 29 marginalized communities through a Gross National Happiness (GNH) index instead of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) index.

Thanks much to Philippine Daily Inquirer’s Oct. 22, 2016 issue and its “Happiness, Not Money, A Better Measure,” written by Jaymee T. Gamil, for this info.

The thoughts she delivered at that press con: “I am convinced the way we can get our country out of poverty is by taking care of the environment to the benefit of the community. We will prove that at these 29 sites. And our number-one performance indicator, the umbrella of what we are gunning for is (not money) but happiness.”

“In Bhutan, their goal is not GDP, their goal is GNH. And they have very little poverty. Zero crime, zero drugs. They have zero corruption. They take such good care of the environment. They sell hydropower to India. Their annual revenues are two billion. And they’re not even one million people. They must be doing something good. We want to try out the model in our 29 convergence sites,” she added.

For a while there, it looked like GNL, for GiNa Lopez. Hehe. It’s GNH, and how nice if it would be adopted as a progress gauge for the rest of Pinas. Imagine… Zero crime, zero drugs, zero corruption. Top all that with a green environment. Sigh.

Zero corruption, though, always makes at least one of my eyebrows afloat. Not even a single peso stolen? Dream on.

But we can dream, can’t we? Like the woman pining for a man who’s pining for a woman who’s not her. Ouch!

The days for saints and souls are there to remind us we can always dream, but dwelling on the dream should be coupled with moving forward right after. Life is short. You see that on epitaphs: What?! He lived for only a day?!

Babies gone to heaven even before their eyes could see this oh so cruel, er, wonderful world. That’s why the advice is to walk out. Er, walk away. Er, unsa gani to?

There’s that one specific advice for what you’re going through at the moment, you know, the moment which may arrive without notice. If only you could go back to bed and sleep. Most of the time, though, you have to face the moment, and learn to move forward from there.

There are people who want to leave a legacy behind. Kind of the answer to the question, Anong gusto mong maging?

If you’re young and are not enjoying the perks of dual citizenship—Pinoy and senior—yet, there’s this false assurance of having all the time in this world to be who and what you want to be. And then, you become older. And tired of aiming for your “maging.”

But never tire of your “maging.” Make it happen.

There are “maging” that do happen, but short of expectations. And you now have to either lessen the expectations or work harder at making the “maging” happen.

If the hard work is giving you nothing but unnecessary stress, time to reconsider and move forward to the steps you have to take for your personal happiness index. As Greek philosopher Heraclitus once said, “Change is the only constant in life.” Yup, moving forward.

If a certain group of people has been trying to shoo you away like an unwanted dog, if they don’t appreciate your hard work, if they treat you like s**t… Wait… First of all, don’t allow them to treat you like s**t.

My sis posted the most appropriate meme on Facebook last week: “Some people just need a high-five. In the face. With a chair.”

Your own personal happiness index will never improve while staying with people you high-five with a chair. Move forward na. Now na.

A friend mistakenly referred to All Saints’ and All Souls’ Days as the Holy Week. No one corrected her probably because both offer the same thing, giving us a long holiday to contemplate on what matters to us.

Christmas, on the other hand, gives us at least a five-month season—September to January—to contemplate on our body weight, diet, if we should buy a dress for New Year’s Eve at this mall-wide sale right now or on the day right before the eve, to make sure it fits.

Christmas is for the Kris Kringle and exchange gifts. For parties and parlor games. For grapes, and not the grapevine.

Christmas is “making a list and checking it twice.”

Then, the New Year arrives, and there you are with a list of resolutions that go back again to your “maging.” It requires trial and error, until you do find the answer you’re most comfortable with.

But you need to listen to the question first before arriving at an answer. Chocolates or protein shake? Hmmm. Sounds like ebony and ivory.