The mad rush to Christmas, 4 December 2018

RAYMUND FERNANDEZ

This should not dampen our Christmas cheer. The season calls for it. And it will not come without forgiveness, especially of our neighbors whom we are commanded to love as we would ourselves.

December, and the season is picking up.

The traffic is the most telling sign.

The faster the season the slower our travel through time and space.

The weather is no help.

And even in these times we have to hold on to what sense of humor we have left.

A sense of humor always helps.

Because there are many things quite absurd about the season specially here in the big city.

Everything about us kicks into high-gear the closer we get to Christmas, work, social life, friendships, reunions, parties, food, drinks; the season is a mad salad.

And however do we put in the required serenity and contemplation, which should rightfully belong to the season, the birth of redemption when we remember the silent night of Christ’s birth?

However, can we do that when the videoke across the hill from us blares to the rest of the universe the slow movement to inebriation of a group of people we can only see with our ears.

But they do get tired towards dawn becoming more off-key till morning until only one girl is left issuing forth a teary rendition of OPM hits.

One imagines her companions asleep all over the table, the floor, and by the wayside.

But this should not dampen our Christmas cheer.

The season calls for it.

And it will not come without forgiveness, especially of our neighbors whom we are commanded to love as we would ourselves.

And if we can tolerate a neighbor’s videoke then we can tolerate mostly anything – ideology, religion, color, race, and gender preference.

To their credit, they did sing, “Happy Birthday” earlier on.

The song is generally understood to be an apologetic message to the neighborhood that this night of videoke is not supposed to happen often, which, of course, it does.

But even so, love your neighbors, even and perhaps the more so on the road.

The traffic goes crazy at these times.

Everyone seems to be in a big hurry to get to somewhere and they will drive accordingly.

Whether you are quick or slow to respond to the traffic stop light, the guy behind you will honk his horn.

It’s only a habit, you understand. It has nothing to do with you.

What has something to do with you is how able you are to laugh at all these and not take anything seriously.

That, after all, ought to be the point of the Christmas season.

The baby Jesus was born around this time.

But, of course, we can’t be sure of the timing.

He could have been born in the summer for all we know.

But society and norms dictate this is the season we celebrate his birth.

So be it.

Within a few months we will be remembering his death.

So contemplate this world.

This is the world saved by God’s birth and death.

And what you make of it is purely up to you.