Riflessione

T’was
The Night Before Christmas
Not a Sign of Baby Jesus

Author Unknown 

T’was the night before Christmas
and all through the town
Not a sign of Baby Jesus
was anywhere to be found.

The people were all busy
with Christmas time chores
Like decorating, and baking,
and shopping in stores.

No one sang "Away in a manger,
no crib for a bed".
Instead, they sang of Santa
dressed-up in bright red.

Mama watched Martha Stewart,
Papa drank beer from a tap.
As hour upon hour
the presents they’d wrap

When what from the TV
did they suddenly hear?
‘Cept an ad.. which told
of a big sale at Sears.

So away to the mall
they all flew like a flash
Buying things on credit
and others with cash!

And, as they made their way home
From their trip to the mall,
Did they think about Jesus?
Oh, no… not at all.

Their lives were so busy
with their Christmas time things
No time to remember
Christ Jesus, the King.

There were presents to wrap
and cookies to bake.
How could they stop and remember
who died for their sake?

To pray to the Savior
they had no time to stop.
Because they needed more time
to "Shop til they dropped!"

On Wal-mart! On K-mart!
On Target! On Penney’s!
On Hallmark! On Zales!
A quick lunch at Denny’s

From the big stores downtown
to the stores at the mall
They would dash away, dash away,
and visit them all!

And up on the roof,
there arose such a clatter
As grandpa hung icicle lights
up on his brand new step ladder.

He hung lights that would flash.
He hung lights that would twirl.
Yet, he never once prayed to Jesus…
Light of the World.

Christ’s eyes… how they twinkle!
Christ’s Spirit… how merry!
Christ’s love… how enormous!
All our burdens… He’ll carry!

So instead of being busy,
overworked, and uptight
Let’s put Christ back in
Christmas and enjoy
some good nights!

Merry Christmas, my friends!

I don’t really understand why do some people like to smoke. When I was a little girl we used to have this mini grocery store, locally, we call it as "Sari-sari store", (sari-sari means different kinds of everything) anyhow, we used to sell different brands of cigarettes, I think in several occasion, I’ve asked one of our frequent buyers why do they like it so much… then they would just say "Because it helps them feel good and release stress out of their bodies", well of course, because I was a  well-informed little girl, I told them  "Do you know that its bad for your health?" They would just say, "Everyone will die some day, ‘ika nga una-una lang yan!" In the midst of my discussion with them, my father happened to walked-in and asked me in an irritated voice,"Why do you have to ask so many questions?" (Of course you will understand why my father gets a little bit agitated because its totally a conflict of interest, isn’t it) My father is a disciplinarian, raised in a traditional way of disciplining so reasoning to him is not an option, not a privilege, so I would just shut-up and look at him with a pounding heart. But then, I was thankful enough because he managed to quit smoking a long time ago so I was not really exposed to smokers my whole childhood life.

Now, that I have my own little one, who happens to have a really sensitive nose and upper respiratory system, I am really disgusted to these smokers. They are polluting the air that my son is taking-in, not just my son, but their generation. These insensitive people doesn’t have any clue what this children are going through every time these smoke gets into their lungs. They have to stop having fun like going to school and play with their friends because they have to go to the hospital to get some medications to help open-up their airways again, because the moment they took in large amount of this smoke, the air passageways would close up, mucus will be generated, the body temperature will rise up to 40 degrees Celsius and they would have trouble breathing, sleeping, eating etc. etc .etc. And these things will just happen over and over again every time they are exposed to these chemicals.

Now, wherever we go and whenever there is someone smoking nearby, I would really say this out loud, loud enough for them to hear, "Nathan, cover your nose and mouth, somebody is smoking!" And whenever we ride a cab which smells like the driver just finished smoking, I would really say, "No, you go ahead, we’ll find another cab!" Some drivers will get irritated, some will have a puzzled look but none of them will ask why…  Why cant they find a place secluded enough that they are the only ones who can inhale the smoke they too are exhaling, (that will make things a whole lot easier for them if they wanted to die at an early stage since they cant quit anyways) in that way, maybe everybody will be happy.  To these smokers that they thought I am being mean, I don’t care if they get irritated, they can say whatever they want, or feel whatever they have to feel, but I am not putting through my son under that difficulty. If they think they have all the rights in this world to do whatever they want such as smoking, then I have all the rights as a mother to express my feelings towards them. They can go to hell for all I care.