Merry na, Christmas pa gyud

Netnet Camomot . 

THERE was that day when we heard some people singing Christmas carols in the neighborhood, prompting a search on which house the singing was echoing from.

Well, it’s Christmas Eve. You now have only one week to list down New Year’s resolutions. Read the unread books, lose weight, spring cleaning—a resolution is a neverending story that keeps on going and going like the Energizer Bunny.

But there’s at least one resolution that did become true, proving that a list is an effective way to light one’s journey.

So, there’s the daily to-do list. Not exactly of resolutions but things to be accomplished today. For Dec. 24, that can be, 1) Buy gifts; 2) Wrap gifts; 3) Buy ingredients; 4) Prepare the ham, spaghetti and fruit salad; 5) Noche Buena; 6) Exchanging gifts. As if you need to be reminded for 5 and 6.

Sleep-deprived is the condition that afflicts each Christmas fan as he tries to be as jolly as Santa Claus. He sleeps late after parties, wakes up early for parties, and tries to sleep in between parties.

And then, there’s the kilometric Christmas list for the search of the perfect gift for family, godchildren, friends and colleagues.

But please define the perfect gift. If the recipient says, “Oh, a friend gave me a wallet like this but of a different color,” that’s definitely not the perfect gift for her even if it took you almost an hour to choose that for her. So, both you and the recipient are now disappointed and that could make you decide not to give her gifts in the future—what if the next gift will again evoke some similar reaction, i.e., Oh, I already have the original version. Meaning, the one you gave her is fake.

That’s why it’s advisable to ask for a wish list but if it includes the original version of branded bags, good luck na lang.

What has happened to, “It’s the thought that counts”? Well, obviously, that saying doesn’t count anymore. Either people have become less appreciative or they’re tired of the exchange-gift tradition.

Aren’t you tired, too, of buying gifts? But that’s one of the best parts of Christmas. Next to the parties and get-togethers, that is.

Yes, the parties and get-togethers that are making you fat. Now you know why you look fat in your latest Facebook photos, thus, diet and exercise will again lead your list of resolutions for next year which, by the way, is coming soon to a theater near you—that’s next week. Gasp! How time flies.

But for today, the theater near you probably still has “Aquaman,” the movie that may make you believe you’re now a mermaid as most of its scenes are underwater.

“A whole new world / A new fantastic point of view / No one to tell us no / Or where to go / Or say we’re only dreaming.”

Oh, that’s from the 1989 film, “The Little Mermaid.” Yes, 1989. In case you thought the animated Disney film was released in 1999, 2009 or some other recent year—Realization 101 for the Baby Boomer Generation (born in 1946-1964) and Generation X (1965-1984). How time flies indeed.

Whatever generation you belong to, what matters is how you treat people. If you’re, say, a young bully, there’s a grim possibility you’ll morph into an old bully many years later—an old bully is even worse than the young kind. You’re already old, you’re expected to be mature, so, what’s your excuse?

Bullying can be physical, verbal, social and cyber.

If you’re a victim of gossip, that’s social bullying led by gossipers who always have a dark cloud hovering above their head, with eyes and ears ready for more chismis that they can pass on to anyone who cares to listen to them. And those who listen to them will eventually have that dark cloud hovering above their head, too, as they’re now tempted to focus on other people’s concerns rather than their own.

If you’re making pakialam with someone else’s life, what will happen then to your to-do list and, most importantly, your Christmas list? Your house has dust, cockroaches and rats, and you don’t even notice because your focus is on the subject of your gossip. Tsk tsk.

“Sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me” used to be the preferred response to verbal bullying. But for physical bullying, such as that in the viral video of an Ateneo de Manila junior high school student, the response could be, Sticks and stones do break my bones, and names also hurt me.

Former Manila Mayor Arsenio Lacson once described one of his city councilors as “so young, so corrupt.” That councilor became a senator decades later. The Ateneo bully is still young, if you can’t imagine him singing Christmas carols now, he won’t be singing them once he’s old. Unless his fellow Atenean Jose Mari Chan can help him with, “Let’s sing Merry Christmas and a happy holiday.”