Think about it
“The best of times”
By Jun Velasco
“And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring.” — Luke 20:25
CHARLES Dickens, author of “The Christmas Carol,” must have spoken for us, Filipinos, and the beleaguered people of the present world, when he wrote in another novel, “A Tale of Two Cities” these opening words:
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way – in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.”
In our deeply troubled world today, which boasts of hi-tech, we behold the crumbling giant institutions led by no less than the greatest nation, the United States.
In the Philippines, we who have blamed corruption as the bane of all that is not good are clapping for the single-minded crusade against it by the inspired leadership of the new dispensation. Let’s hope and pray that those mouthing matwid na daan have as clear conscience.
This is the first time some of the country’s highest officials are fighting like bloodthirsty gladiators.
And yet, it’s that time of the year when we should be counting our blessings. With the merry season upon us, let’s not be stampeded into embracing the fall of a corrupt regime as sure signs of our liberation from poverty and all that are not good. The path to recovery is littered with bumps and humps.
Out there in Cagayan de Oro and Iligan are harrowing tales of woes wrought by an angry Mother Nature.
When Typhoon Sendong struck, most of us who wanted to carol loved ones with Christmas’ bouncy tunes could only fall on our knees — just like the mother who saw her young daughter drown in Iligan — and hum instead “Silent Night, Holy Night.”
We did a random count of homes around the city with the traditional Christmas lanterns, decors, tree, Sta. Claus, red nosed reindeer, colorful lights, parols, and the like. What did we see? Very few, maybe only two percent of the population showed that they had the spirit.
Has the Christmas tradition waned? Have the people realized there are “more important,” “more sensible” things to do?
Oh, yes, Christmas is in the heart. That much is true.
This is the time of the year when we should see an intense convergence of joy and sadness, when the poor deeply feel their “poor-ness,” and the rich the hollowness of their ill-gotten opulence. Ill-gotten because they are too few against the scandalously great number of poor and downtrodden.
Open your TV sets and behold the dapper Republican politicians rearing for battle against the ineffectual President Barack Obama of the Democratic Party.
Their rhetoric has become meaningless. The US, just like its counterparts in Europe – London, Paris, Berlin, etc – are on their knees, too.
In the world’s vaunted hope, which is Asia, a sore thumb has just reared its ugly head. Big Bully China has threatened its neighbors it wouldn’t budge on the Spratly because she wants to get all the oil there. Greed!
Over in the Middle East, powerful dictators Saddam Hussein, Mubarack and Ghadaffy who have detained millions under their noses have collapsed! We now see lately (Hallelluja!) people of Jerusalem embracing Christianity.
Before the advent of Christmas, Prof. Jaime Licauco, who has the makings of a seer, sent us this text message: “Next year, precisely on 2l December 2012, is the end of the 5th and last earth cycle in the Mayan calendar where 6 planets will be in alignment. This will exert a strong magnetic pull that will trigger earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and floods on planet Earth.”
Why is there so much fuss about the Mayans?
There was a time these Middle American Indians in Southern Mexico and Guatemala had the greatest civilization in the Western Hemisphere. Mayan astronomers, according to the encyclopedia, compiled precise tables of positions and were able to predict with precision solar eclipses.
Jimmy says the floods at the Sahara, the tsunami in Japan, Ondoy and Pepeng and now Sendong floods and many more that are mercilessly blasting Mother Earth are the effects of the planets’ unusual movement.
Jimmy denies having said the world will end, but surely, he says, many will die, which we are seeing with our very eyes while the world turns upside down.
Since we do not forget that we are children God, we need to look inward and rediscover the finest universe therein. After all, we’ve been predestined to inhabit that divine country in the long run.
Let’s stop this temporizing with material pleasures. We’re okay with flood control, trillion trees planting at this late hour, constructing high-rise houses on top of the mountain, building a huge boat ala Noah.
But frankly, we do not know the exact time of Christ’s second coming. That would be the greatest and the best time of all.
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