December 16 - 31, 2018
OPINION
PHILIPPINE ASIAN NEWS TODAY
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Breaking
Point
By Rosette Correa
Every immigrant will agree with
me when I say that everything tastes,
feels, and smells better from where
we come from, especially during
Christmas. As most Filipinos say,
“Mas masaya ang Pasko sa atin!”
(Christmas is much more joyful in our
country). There is something to being
where you grew up and experienced
many things, and the taste, feel and
smell of things are heightened not
only because of their actual qualities,
but because of the experiences that
are attached to it.
My eldest grew up in the
Philippines before we left for Canada
some fourteen years ago, and one of
her objectives on our trip back was
to eat at all the restaurants and food
places she loved growing up. Our first
excursion was to the food court mall,
where she ate to her heart’s content,
food like Potato Corner, Dunkin
Donuts, Sizzling Plate Henlin siomai,
guyabano and green mango shake,
chicharon bulaklak and bituka. She
has yet to get a hold of binalot,but as
she went through one meal to the next,
she explained to her little sister her
experiences for each one, one story
woven into the next, making meaning
out of each morsel of food, and how
our experiences as a family eating
at those places gave a humble value
to what we ate. One of the greatest
lessons my eldest learned growing up
in the Philippines was to appreciate
what we had despite our poverty,
making ends meet with the little money
Bulong
Pulungan
By Deedee Siytangco
Reprinted from Manila Bulletin
ANGEL THOUGHTS
If you want to change the world,
go home and love the family. —St.
Mother Teresa
Thank you, Lord, for this coming
Christmas Day!
Despite our mistrust of each
other, simmering hatreds because of
differences in ideologies and political
leanings, the economic hardships
most of us experience in our daily
lives, it’s still awesome to be again
preparing to welcome our Savior’s
birth—as it was in the little town of
Bethlehem more than 2,000 years
ago.
While we usually think of Christmas
as a peaceful event, Pope Francis
reminds us that it wasn’t so. Joseph
had to be told by an angel that it was
A Christmas Feast of the Senses
we had from my husband’s
and my salary as teachers. Of
course, the prices today were
far different from before because of
inflation, but the joy of seeing both my
girls enjoying the humble fare is what
makes the experience truly amazing.
My youngest understood each story
and experience, and while she grew
up in Canada, she has always been
grounded and knows that real poverty
exists in other parts of the world. She
had to see it first hand, and to learn
from it, as well as to do something
about it in her own little way.
My youngest had a chance to
see real poverty on our trip, going
from one place to another. While
we prepared her for much of her life
to appreciate what she had, and to
share it with others, it was a different
experience for her to see it first hand.
The sight of poverty heightened
her appreciation for it better, as she
distributed Halloween candy to street
children at the Department of Social
Welfare and Development (DSWD)
center in Cavite City. She ate “dirty
ice cream” with them, and it tasted
so much sweeter, as she shared it
with the children. She saw how abject
poverty does not wipe away childhood
innocence and appreciation of gifts,
especially during Christmas. To her,
the sight of the smiles on the faces
of children wearing ill-fitting clothes,
slippers a size too big or too small, was
a testament that despite difficulties, a
steadfast spirit of hope can make a
bad situation better. She has never
seen challenges like these growing
up in Canada,
and what seems
to be a serious
problem to her
is diminished by
the challenges
the
street
children have to
face everyday.
On our way to
places to visit,
she saw hungry
faces pressed
against the car
widows, begging
for money, and
greeting
her,
“Meri Krismas!”,
and she asked
me what she
had to do. She
wanted to make
it better for them, but she was at a loss
at how to do it. When one is given that
perspective of poverty at an early age,
there comes a desire to do better, and
my youngest now truly understands
what that means. While she couldn’t
help each child that came up to the
car or to our door on Christmas Day,
she now has a plan to put aside some
money from her hard-earned baking
business, to send to the DSWD project
every year. I told her that while we can’t
help each one of those children, she
can help one or a few, and that, is the
only thing that God asks of us. Saint
Teresa of Calcutta once said that if
you cannot feed everyone, just one
would be sufficient.
It is true that Christmas is better
where you come from, because
there are memories attached to each
experience that you relive. For my
eldest, it brought back many memories
of her humble childhood and now she
appreciates more the blessings she
has been given. For my youngest, it
gave her a better perspective on how
the world can be made a better place,
especially for poor children. In both
cases, the true meaning of Christmas
was manifested in the feast of the
senses they experienced, and it has
now inspired them to take action and
to make the lives of others better, just
like how our Saviour intended it to
be.
THE REASON FOR CHRISTMAS
alright to make the Virgin Mary
his spouse and that the child
she was bearing was conceived by the
Holy Spirit and was going to be the
Savior of Mankind. They had to flee to
Bethlehem but they couldn’t find any
room in the inns so Joseph had to
settle for a stable to shelter his family.
King Herod was after the baby
Jesus, so that after His birth, Joseph
and Mary had to flee again to escape
the murderous monarch. But amid this
background of fear and apprehension
and murderous intentions, the Star
shone brightly in the sky as a beacon
of hope and a message of peace and
goodwill.
May this message of love and
hope prevail long after this beautiful
season is over!
By the way, I am so glad that the
Holy Family is once more “fashionable”
in many shop windows, like in the
one designed and executed by Clang
Garcia in New York city for the DOT,
and in some commercial buildings n
Makati. I hope next year, they can truly
stage a “comeback,” don’t you?
* * *
I was in Vancouver last week to be
with my son Junie, his wife Cora, and
their two boys Monchu and Miggy. It
was family bonding time, and despite
breaking out in spots because of the
unusually cold weather, I survived and
enjoyed my visit. Thank you to my
daughter Sandee for accompanying
me on this “apostolic” visit and being
able to reassure myself that indeed,
WWW.PHILIPPINEASIANNEWSTODAY.COM
my boy’s family was doing well.
We were able to watch my eldest
grandson Monchu, 19, swim in a
competition in Whistler, too. He did
well. This lola is very proud of him, his
determination to excel in the sport,
his patience in waking up in the early
morning hours—even in freezing
weather—to
practice,
practice,
practice! He is also in the Special
Olympics but competes in regular
swim meets, too.
* * *
Our family is saddened by the
demise of our dear, dear auntie,
Lourdes “Nelly” Asuncion Intengan
Jhocson at age 101.
She was the only sister of our
mother, Paz Intengan Munson,
who died at age 92
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