MY CHRISTMAS WISH

As kids we were made to believe that there is a Santa Claus. My perception of Santa then was not just someone who brings toys to good children, but someone who makes your wishes come true.

This Christmas I want to be a Santa Claus and be able to bring cheer to people. But how do I do it?

One thing that really gives me a sense of fulfillment is when I am able to help others, most especially the underprivileged members of society. Although I have been given this opportunity countless times, still I am eager to do more.

Several months back, in my mind I was toying with the idea of making the lolos and lolas at Golden Acres happy this Christmas by giving them a duster or a t-shirt each. I am sure this would bring a smile to their faces . However when I was computing the cost to be entailed, it came up to quite a big amount since there are about 300 elders living there. I could not possibly shoulder the expenses all by myself so I was thinking of a fund raising project among my friends or anyone willing to share their blessings.

Unfortunately Typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng wrought so much havoc to the country that I decided to for-go of my fund raising project since a lot of my friends were victims of these tragedies. I didn't have the heart to solicit donations when I know very well that they needed money themselves to repair their property, houses, etc.

In lieu of this, I am seriously thinking of alternatives now on how to do something worthwhile this Christmas that will truly be gratifying not just for myself but most especially to God. I could probably look for about 5 of the poorest families and give them food and grocery so that they could experience having a sumptuous Noche Buena which I suppose they rarely experience, if at all. I could also give toys for the kids since Christmas is really for children.

Another choice is to scout around for sick people and buy medicine that they badly need but cannot afford to, or I could opt to shoulder their doctors' fees.

The criterion however is that I do not know these people personally and neither do they know me. They do not even need to know who I am.

I have been praying to Jesus to lead me to these people or help me find the deserving families. Much as I want to, I hesitate to go to the slum areas where poor families abound because I cannot afford to give all of them gifts so I have to do it on a selective basis.

As of now due to my limited resources I can only help a few but hopefully someday God willing, I will be blessed enough to be able to help more people not just at Christmas time but whenever the need arises.

Wish me luck to make my Christmas wish come true and make our less fortunate brothers and sisters believe that yes indeed, there is a Santa Claus.

SO NEAR YET SO FAR

In my previous article, I wrote about my visit to the Cojuangco Building and how I befriended some people there. I wrote about my wonderful experience with Mr. Mel Mamaril, the loyal security aide of Tita Cory and how good a man he was. Well, let me tell you that I discovered something new about him in an article I read a week ago that made me admire him more as a person.

In that article it says that when Tita Cory was still alive, he together with Cris, the other security aide assigned to Tita Cory would get a monthly allowance from her. With her demise, the Aquino siblings offered to give them a lump sum retirement pay, since Noynoy to whom they were now assigned could not afford the allowance previously being given by his mom. They refused to take the retirement pay and instead agreed to accept and make do with whatever little allowance Noy could afford to give them just so they can continue taking care of him. Such a noble act from two grateful people, I do believe.

Yesterday we went to Manila Memorial Park to visit the graves of my mom, lola, aunts and uncles as is customary for us every All Saints Day. Since my brother and cousin were busy chatting, we missed the arrow directing car owners to the parking area, and such being the case was forced to drive all the way to the end of the memorial park where the only U-turn slot was situated.

As we drove along looking for that U-turn slot, we caught sight of the ABS-CBN vans covering the event and knew that we were approaching the tomb of Tita Cory and Ninoy. There was a multitude of spectators there when suddenly I caught glimpse of a barong clad tall guy with a hand held radio. It was Mang Mel, so I assumed Noynoy could not be far behind since Mang Mel was now assigned to him. Indeed I was right because I saw Noy talking with some people.

I wanted to go down and say hello to Mang Mel but we couldn't stop since there were a lot of cars following us and the police stationed along the way were motioning us to go on. I thought of how lucky I was to see him again but at the same time felt sad that I missed the rare chance to talk to him and probably Noy too. I'm sure it would have been easy with Mang Mel around.

So near yet so far, yes I do believe the two of them were.

Maybe next time our paths would cross once again. Who knows, maybe the third time around I would be lucky.