The country has a great deal to worry about when P1.6 million is given as a Christmas cash gift to each of 18 senators and another P250,000 each to four other senators while millions of Filipinos are starving and thousands of displaced typhoon victims are in dire need of food, shelter and clothing assistance from the government.
Some years back, a child named Virginia asked, “Is there a Santa Claus?” An editorial responded, “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He lives in the hearts of children.”
It’s still the season for giving thanks, for acknowledging people who, in the year about to pass and way before now, have been “giving” us gifts—not just material items, but gifts of time and understanding, gifts of courage and steadfastness, gifts of sympathy and common cause, gifts of sharing and championing our advocacies.
I can’t remember the last time I wrote to you. But what I do remember is that you never wrote me back. And that I never got that SpiceCam Polaroid. But I know you’re a busy man and you have your reasons. I’m writing to you now because I don’t really know who to ask. They always say, “No one knows the exact day or hour the world will end.” And since you’re Father Christmas, and you prepare for it whole year round, perhaps you have a clue?
The “Santa Claus” that we see walking around in shopping centers before Christmas is a caricature of the real Santa Claus; he is like a clown. I can say this in all sincerity, because I know the history of the phenomenon called Santa Claus.
Eleven years have passed since the last time I wrote you a letter. During those years, the world has changed and the world has also changed me. Before I turn into an adult, I would like to believe in the magic that you represented to me when I was little.
To begin with, Catholicism is cultic. I use “cult” in its general sense: worship, devotion, veneration; expressed in rites and rituals, devotions, icons, holy objects. Catholicism, described as “sensuous,” easily lends itself to cult. It’s said to be a “full-bodied experience” where the awareness of God comes through the five senses: music, incense and candles, beads, scapulars and medals, icons, costumed hierarchy, magnificent altars.
President Aquino’s interview with YouTube on Friday was capped by the last question from a seven-year-old boy named Joshua. The boy asked whether the President believed in Santa Claus and what his Christmas wish was.
