By Emma S. Orozco
How beautiful to see Christmas images of Santa Claus,Christmas trees, Bethlehem, all in the spirit of celebrating the birth of Jesus. During our youth, we used to gather around Christmas trees and open our boxes of presents. Now, we are the ones giving away presents. But I have resolved to give presents only to children and the yayas who take care of them. I don't think the adults need to be reminded of Christmas at this time, especially when the peso-dollar exchange rate is going haywire, and the prices of basic commodities and utilities are doing nothing but increase no end. In fact they would only wish that it would pass away speedily.
Why is our country in such an economic mess? I think that this all boils down to the colonial mentality of most government officials. They don't really value the our people nor do they think that Filipino citizens here deserve good governance. Because they receive the bulk of their budgets out of the remittances of our OFWs, then they don't really have a heart anymore for the people.
I think we should open up a store: a Heart Store -- where we can sell different kinds of hearts -- to sell to those whose hearts have turned stony, or petrified, or wooden from being too far from the realities of the country. We could have a blue heart to turn over the hearts of those who are supportive of violent means in resolving the problems of the country, a violet heart for those who still consider women as secondary or even tertiary beings, a red heart for those with empty chests -- to make them alive again and nurturing of the people.
I really don't know how they (the rich and corrupt government officials) could still sleep soundly or eat without having any pangs of guilt over using the people's money.
Yesterday, I went to the Comelec and saw the employees enjoying sumptuous Christmas dinner. You know in government, the world stops. There is always a celebration of some sort, as if what is happening outside is just one of those things. So they have a budget for a year, and then they spend that money for their programs, their celebrations. And you see food all the time.
It is Christmas now and we see children plying the streets, using a tin can to go drumming and sing songs, no matter how off-key. One night, a friend gave me a box of cake. Since it is sweet and I am on a diet, I decided to give it away to the singing kids. I sliced one piece after another and gave it away. The first child came around again, only to thank me again. He stood there by the corner of a building where a fastfood restaurant was. My heart bled for him.
By the way, that's a common sight now, children standing by glass windows of restaurants, especially, Chow King. They wait for the diners to leave and then motion to them to bring out the left overs that they can eat.
The crunch is in. The food advertised in the tarpaulins or the flyers of a Chow King restaurant do not match what is served. I was served food that had only three instead of four slices of chicken on the plate. When I showed the picture in the ad and how it looked plenty, the waiters and the managers just shook their head; they cannot do anything about it.
I remember, one time in the 90's we had a Christmas giftgiving to the children of Tondo. Children, ha, but then the parents also came. At first we had some shows -- magic, and then food giving. My goodness, riot ensued. Pandemonium. Parents and children vied for a share. Worse yet, the donor, who did not follow our instructions that only those with numbers should be given, felt very frustrated and vowed never to repeat the event again.
Whose fault was it?
Maybe we should ask all the restaurants to donate for a long, long table at Luneta where food will be laid out galore for every child to partake of.
But then at this time, they will respond: it's too late, "we have already committed our supplies to other groups."
Instead, why don't we just have a March for Cheap Food this Christmas?
JO MOULTON, ART PRINT
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