Christmas

We all need to feel the spirit and magic of Christmas amidst all the mayhem we are experiencing in Mindanao.

This is not to downplay nor forget the monstrosity of the Maguindanao heinous massacre and the Agusan del Sur and the Basilan tragic events that followed but an invitation to reflect on the meaning and significance of Christmas.

If the goal of warlordism is wealth, fame and power, it would do us well to remember that the great Jesus was born very humbly in a stable among farm animals.

Of course, we agree that the Jesus Christ who said that we should love one another is our model of how one should be famous and powerful. Wealth, fame and power can be harnessed to serve humanity and therefore are not evil per se; the evils are its misuses to harm humanity. Harming others is an act of harming ourselves.

For many years now, we in the local feminist scene have been contemplating on what we call the “ Alternative Christmas.”

It is a growing concept so it is continually evolving. For example, in advocating that child care is a family and social concern, we promote Christmas cards that has the father St Joseph holding the baby Jesus.

In this sense, we still need to promote The Nativity image that will promote breastfeeding as I imagine there was no commercial cow’s milk formula nor television advertisements to undermine breastfeeding in Bethlehem at that time.

We like to imagine The Belen, or the Nativity scenes to be set in a barn or stable and include Mary, Joseph, the child Jesus, angels, shepherds BUT the Three Wise bearers of gifts are “WOMEN: Balthazara, Melchiora, and Caspara,” who are said to have followed a star, known as the Star of Bethlehem, and arrive after His birth.

We are not anti – men, but we wish to be allowed to imagine a world where women can be “ Three Queens” and find time to leave the domesticity of home to be able to travel and be as gracious and magnanimous as the Three Kings.

While we welcome the economic activity during the Christmas season and particularly, in these times of recession, it is prudent to be austere amidst all the hunger around us.

Don’t we feel violated when others spend millions on lavish Christmas parties while others are hungry? A recent Philippine Human Development Report published by the United Nations Development Program ( UNDP) has determined that “ massive and abject poverty and economic inequity, particularly in the distribution of wealth and control over the resource base for livelihood” is one of the root causes of internal conflicts and rebellion in the Philippines.

This kind of rebellion is perhaps not seen in Maguindanao, a province in Central Mindanao, among the high and mighty enough to have declared a state of martial law.

Our overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who are not able to go home for Christmas are missing their loved ones in a very big way. I have read their entries in social networking sites and they are missing our “simbang gabi, puto bongbong, caroling, office parties, etc.”

Our fellow countrymen abroad will assuage these feelings by remitting funds and Christmas presents galore. This is why some mothers think they wish to be “MRDs” ( mothers receiving dollars).

My wish is to be able to feel Christmas through the eyes and heart of the child in me and to believe in the magic of Christmas: faith in a Santa Claus from the heavens, giving gifts of love and all the works.

Faith is a lot like love and hope and invoking that warms my heart !