Tuesday, December 23, 2008 Editorial: No crisis of joy for the season
In times when economic forecasts for the new year are dire, that conjures, in some people, an ambivalent feeling for a season that is supposedly the most joyous period of every year.
There’s no argument, too, that we are already in bad times after the global financial crisis hit us in the latter part of the year, and that already affected the manner Christmas is being celebrated by many—whether in the real or imagined sense.
Families of workers hit by subsequent retrenchments and closing of firms in Cebu and in other parts of the country or abroad
have been forced to make do with what is available for Christmas.
And the overly pessimistic are reining in the celebration as they worry over the prospects of the coming year.
Back to basic
This is ironic because for Catholics and all Christians, the birth of Jesus is supposed to usher in hope in the future, or of the predicted redemption.
Good that not all people have allowed the current economic crunch and the gloomy prognosis for the coming year to hamper the celebration of Christmas.
Many have made adjustments, like cutting Christmas spending, which could be good in the spiritual sense as it allows them to focus less on the material aspect of the celebration.
In a way, crisis tends to push people back to the basic tenets of Christmas, which include sharing love, gift giving being merely one of the outward expressions of that motivation.
Joyous celebration
And so even if Christmas 2008 has us seeing less decors and lightings, hearing fewer firecracker explosions, and observing more people in malls window shopping than buying Christmas items, that should not be taken to mean we have a crisis of joy.
As what was true in the past and what will remain true in the future, nothing can stand in the way of Christians celebrating the birth of Jesus, not even an economic crunch or gloomy economic forecasts.
It is in this sense that we join the feast, and reiterate the wish spoken everywhere and through the centuries: A Merry Christmas to all!
