“ON the first day of Christmas/My true love gave to me/A partridge in a pear tree/On the second day of Christmas/My true love gave to me/Two turtle doves/And a partridge in a pear tree/On the third day of Christmas/My true love gave to me/Three French hens/Two turtle doves/And a partridge in a pear tree.”
That’s on constant replay at a Cagayan de Oro mall and I’m always singing with it even if I don’t like Christmas songs. So, does that make me a Christmas fan now?
Surprisingly, I haven’t heard a Jose Mari Chan song yet at the malls. Perhaps there’s a conscious effort to avoid playing his carols. Ah, hehe.
Christmas is becoming more commercialized each year and it doesn’t help that Pinas starts to celebrate it in September. The more months for celebration, the merrier. Hmmm. Not exactly. But the malls can always wish for bigger sales.
The Pinoy is famous for his resilience. He smiles for the cameras while swimming in murky floodwaters. He smiles for the cameras while climbing a tree that’s right beside his house, hoping to reach the roof of that house before floodwaters could eat up its lower levels. He smiles for the cameras while striving for balance atop the roof of his flooded home.
If a smile is a symbol of resilience, then the Joker is the most resilient of all.
But a smile can be a coping mechanism only. Behind the smile lies the real state of the Pinoy’s life. He doesn’t have enough money for the basics — food, clothing, shelter — because the money that’s meant to help him has been swallowed by corrupt politicians and greedy government contractors who have run out of ideas on how to spend their billions, they end up collecting luxury cars that they don’t even use.
Starting to celebrate Christmas in September can cause depression in the Pinoy who’s struggling to provide for his family’s basic needs. Better move that celebration to December 24 and 25 then, to shorten the period of depression. Two days of wanting what corrupt politicians and greedy government contractors take for granted. Instead of four months — September to December — of torture.
And then there’s New Year’s Eve. Which is the perfect day to list down another set of New Year’s resolutions that go pfft by January 2.
The most popular resolution: lose weight. Plus how it should be done: diet and exercise. Yeah, right.
A little increase in tummy circumference is already a warning that’s something’s amiss. Although it can be great news to a woman who wants to have a baby. But outside of maternal instincts, better discover ways to stop it from developing into a blimp.
Christmas is notorious for causing weight gain. By September 1, which is the Pinoy’s first day of Christmas, he already has an excuse for partying. The diet can start in January.
But haven’t you noticed? The Pinoy’s Christmas spirit is still sleeping. It could be due to the hearings on flood control projects. Only the corrupt can celebrate while being bombarded by evidence of graft and corruption.
