Suarez-Orendain: May: A wish

Prior to the pandemic, May’s frontliner event was Flores de Mayo, one of the feasts devoted to the Virgin Mary, and a memo to some flowering plants: Bougainvillea, sunflowers, golden showers and kalachuchi. My teacher in my elementary school years said may is an action word that expresses a wish or a possibility. May is also a polite way to make a request or ask for permission.

May 1. With this in mind, allow me to use may to share my “armchair thoughts,” devoting May 1 to art as self-expression. May we strive to draw in our minds figures and landscapes by firelight, as our ancestors did, to record in the flickering play of light and shadows what we remember of daylight’s history and truths.

May 2. With Mother Mary carrying Jesus Christ when he was a baby, may we keep in mind to honor our mothers with obedience, respect, and loyalty. May we help her when she is old, feeble and cranky. May we pass this test of love.

May 3. I place No. 3 as my symbol for God in our lives. Millions pray to God or to a god or to gods. I do not judge you. Belief is in the realm of faith. I believe in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. To those who believe not in any god, may you also find life and rest in whom you follow.

May 4. The month of May is a town dressed up in fine clothes, its streets flying with colorful banners, its houses perfumed with the aroma of roasted pigs, and its people ready to dive into the table groaning with food. You guessed it; May is the fiesta month in the Philippines. May is a celebration of life and meaning.

May 5. Health, do not neglect health. We are to eat five fruits and vegetables every day. May we have a big slice of good nutrition on our plates every day. And so my “may” is this: May our future leaders not just put food on our tables three times a day, but a well-balanced one.

May 6. Face-to-face classes are on and then off again. Whatever happens, may we realize that education is only partly memorization of facts. It is the gathering and mastering of transferable skills, and forming critical and independent thinking. May we have an education that prepares and qualifies us for work.

May 7. God created man on the sixth day, and he rested on the seventh. May we remember God. May we use the day of rest and prayer to worship God as a family. The rest of the day, aside from taking a nap, may we spend chatting with relatives and friends to encourage them in this pandemic.

May 8. Eight represents eternity. May we put it in our hearts and minds we are sojourners, and earth is not our final destination. There is life after this fleshly one. May we ask ourselves, “Where will my soul go when I die? Who will get me there?”

May 9. Plainly: Election day. We put our trust on our chosen leaders. May we pick them for their ability to listen, inspire, for their reliability to be there, their honesty, roots in history, presence, responsibility, courage, humility and flexibility.

May our final score be for the nation. Be wise. Think twice.

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