I was not so much in the Christmas mood last night. I got scolded for quarreling with my brother before mass, then there weren’t any available seats inside the church so we stood for more than an hour. Then I got peeved by the delinquent-looking teens (who had seats) who were just chatting with each other and were wearing their caps and sun visors during mass. And by the other kids who insist on smoking outside. Oh well, at least they attended mass. Plus, we didn’t even have any special noche buena. We just had take-outs from Wendy’s.

But this is not what Christmas is all about, right? That wasn’t what depressed me anyway. On the way home (we stopped by Wendy’s), I saw a group of street children (the eldest among them presumably only ten years old), loitering, some sniffing rugby in plastic bags, some smoking cigarettes. It just disturbed me a lot. It made me feel angry, not at the kids, maybe at their parents if they’re still alive, the government perhaps, but just to whoever’s responsible for them and their state of life. Shucks, it ruined my mood. After getting home and eating, I just prayed and slept immediately.

Christmas day was kind of better. As usual, we spent the day at my dad’s hometown in Amadeo, Cavite and went relatives-hopping. Just my observation, a lot of things have indicated to me how this Christmas is simply much worse than any of the recent ones past. Not just because of the tragedies in Southern Leyte and Caraga, but people simply appear to be much poorer than they were. Seriously. Namamasko po just seemed to appear as a euphemism for palimos po today. Something’s wrong. (I’m tempted to say that this is one indication why we shouldn’t elect Gloria Arroyo to the presidency anymore –people aren’t better off than they were in Estrada’s time except of course all her alipores– but I’m careful not to make any hasty fallacies, so nevermind that).

Before going home, we passed by my parents’ godparents. As usual, most of their conversations revolved around government and politics. (Of course, I’m an eavesdropper so I listened). They have a lot of insider stories since they are also government workers. ‘Yang mga usap-usapang ‘yan ang nagpapabwisit sa ‘kin eh. Walang hiyang sabwatan ng mga opisyales at pulitiko. Punyeta, nakakagalit. Naaawa pa daw sila sa mga colleagues nila na napapahiya ‘pag inilalantad sa media yung luho nila. Ano?! Dapat nga, binibitay ‘yang mga kurakot na ‘yan eh. Napakaraming mas dapat kaawaan.

(Anyway, while I’m writing this, our neighbor is playing loudly both the otso-otso and the Spageti songs. It made me realize how new dances become popular every Christmas, to which tunes children annually perform dances in front of amused adults. Last year it was the Ketchup song. This year, it’s the otso-otso — wala na, sira na ang likod ng susunod na henerasyon ng mga Pilipino — I wonder what new dance craze will become popular next year.)

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 25th, 2003 at 9:53 pm and is filed under Home & Family . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.