We are all in this together, aren’t we?
There is no I in YOU. It’s also true in ME.
Not an I too in OUR, as far as the eye can see.
I is irrelevant in US. And so it is in WE.
Walk the talk TOGETHER as right as can be.
The First Person is all of Three.
Beyond the clouds, the air is free.
*****
So, Autumn is just around the corner. Summer will soon be a thing of the past, officially and calendar-wise on September 22. While the light of day lasts, go and have fun with family and friends.
Be one with the great outdoors. Take a stroll or camp out. Delight in a final backyard barbeque; or a picnic in a park. Bask under the sun until it sets. Adore the beauty and grace of Mother Nature’s rich green and picturesque landscape, before the leaves change colours and kiss the ground.
Flow with the rivers and creeks and cavort with the ducks and the fish. Like water, seek your level best. Create full circles. Resonate with the ripples of the lake with a farewell dip.
Respect and celebrate the vibrancy of life. Always keep safe, always be healthy.
Many things will be sorely missed: birds chirping to chipmunks and squirrels playing atop cone-filled pine trees; varied flowers of different hues radiantly adorning front lawns and roadsides; playful Canadian geese prepping up for a long flight southwards.
Hopefully, an end to seeing masked men and women keeping distance while walking, jogging or biking is in the horizon. Add to the cart an adieu to attending semi-restrictive and virtual social and cultural shows and events, feasts, functions and reunions; etc.
Hopefully too, a real, science-based and effective vaccine – not the one being rammed into people’s throats by unscrupulous politicians and biased media — will go viral.
Let the bad times, particularly the pandemic heat, go and dissipate into oblivion.
However, always remember the wonderful world you have. Never forget the fantastic creative stuff you did this summer. Preserve amazing experiences in your memory bank. Keep every pleasant moment with kin and friends near the heart. Stare at digital images and creased photographs. Relive the momentous story behind each picture.
While at it, look forward to having another awesome summer after nine months.
*****
We are midway in September, the first of four “-ber” months leading up to the end of 2020.
Love it or hate it, Canada’s Filipino community will likely root for the traditional long Christmas celebration that may have started this month and may well go beyond Christmastime and extend into the Feast of the Three Kings on the first Sunday of 2021.
This is without prejudice to commemorating Thanksgiving Day (October 12); Halloween (October 31); All Saints Day and All Souls Day (November 1 and 2, respectively); Remembrance Day (November 11); Bonifacio Day (November 30); Christmas Day; Boxing Day (December 26); Rizal Day (December 30); and New Year’s Eve.
Ugaling Pinoy! Idagdag na rin ang mga mala-piyestang pagtitipon sa mga birth, wedding at death anniversaries; mga family, civic, academic, fraternal, professional, religious at iba pang events and reunions; simple kita-kits at out-of-town trips and hang-outs. Ayayay! The calendar is full, but with a post script “Ingat always.”
Mawala na sana ang bahid ni Covid-19. Harinawa’y the more, the merrier again. Sigh! Kaunting tiis pa, amigo.
*****
Nakatutuwa naman ang lupit ng Christmas spirit. When September began, Pasko na ang usapan sa mga social media sites na kinagigiliwan ng ating mga Kababayan. Ikaw, miss mo na rin ba ang Kapaskuhan?
But did you know that as early as March — when quarantine, stay-home, and self-isolation protocols were put in place, some radio stations in Toronto and Ontario played at least two Christmas songs every now and then?
So explained, it was done to ease pandemic-triggered mental, emotional and economic pressures. It was also to inspire and to lift up souls dampened by fear and gripped by grief.
I was informed that Christmas songs and carols traditionally begin to breeze through Toronto’s air waves during the Santa Claus Parade – set on November 15 this year — and thereafter until the Holiday Season is over.
For some, Yuletide melodies are played as soon as the first snowfall lands in Canada’s premiere city.
*****
Fellow senior, schoolmate and journalist Philip Lustre Jr. says that pre-martial law ABS-CBN radio host Johnny de Leon may be credited for pioneering the on-air Christmassy trend in Philippine broadcasting.
Exactly on September 1, the genesis of the so-called “-ber” months, his radio audience would commence hearing Christmas tunes during de Leon’s program “Lundagin Mo, Baby!”
Need to know: “Lundagin Mo, Baby” (jump for it / go for it) is not just a colloquial term but a phrase that expresses encouragement, says website e-edukasyon.ph. “Reaching new heights can only be attained if you aim to jump for it. There is no perfect time to say it but in every moment where feelings of desperation and hopelessness are at its peak,” the website adds.
De Leon was indeed the right medium with a trending perfect message for all time.
Lustre to social media peers: No! It wasn’t singer-composer Jose Mari Chan who began the practice of singing and playing Christmas music as soon as August ended. De Leon sparked the practice that later became part of the mass culture. He was the only announcer who did it then.
Can we now joyfully glorify Bathala with Christmas-themed classics and pop songs, at least to get any depressing thought of Covid-19 behind us? Of course, we can and we will.
We are glad that inspired geniuses took time to write poems and prose that fit holiday music. As we play and sing the Christmas feeling, let us push forward the Blessed Season of Hope, Love, Peace and Goodwill to All Men.
Sige na nga. “May the spirit of Christmas be always in our hearts.”
At matapos ang Orasyon: “Isipin ang mabuti; ang masama’y iwaksi.”
*****
Parating na nga ba talaga ang tag-lamig?
Holding trash bags, Pareng Isko asked Mareng Babes what should be done with her exotic plants and flowers.
Sabi ni Mare, extended daw ang tag-init hanggang Halloween.
Halika sa garden ni Mare. May bagong scarecrow.
*****
Dahil nga sa pandemic, stay home si Mareng Babes. Ito ang kanyang very valid reason to indulge in a dynamic and recreational insight on botany.
Kaya kung may “resurgence” o “second wave” this Fall, hindi toilet paper ang iho-hoard niya — kundi tabo.
Mare said: “Practical ang tabo — double purpose. Una, para sa kalinisan; at alam na daw natin ‘yun. Secondly, sa next summer, ready na ang makulay na paso.”
Tsismis: Ang umangal, gagawing scarecrow hanggang Pasko.
*****
Throwback: Philippine history chronicles not one but two martial law declarations on September 21.
The first occurred on September 21, 1944, when then President Jose P. Laurel placed the country under martial law through Proclamation No. 29. Martial law came into effect the next day. Laurel’s proclamation highlighted a three-year Japanese-influenced wartime Second Philippine Republic.
On September 21, 1972, then President Ferdinand E. Marcos — tenth President of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986 — imposed Proclamation No. 1081 that declared martial law across the archipelago. The military rule lasted until January 17, 1981. It stood out as being the most infamous, locally and internationally.
Much have been said and written about those times, often referred to as the First Quarter Storm (civil unrest in the first three months of 1970).
History sources list three more times when martial law or a state of emergency held Filipinos in its grip.
In early September, 1896, Spanish Governor-General Ramon Blanco placed Manila, Bulacan, Cavite, Pampanga, Tarlac, Laguna, Batangas, and Nueva Ecija under martial law to quell a brewing revolution.
On December 4, 2009, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo issued Proclamation No. 1959 that placed Maguindanao province in Southern Philippines under martial law in the wake of the infamous Ampatuan Massacre. The politically-related violence claimed 57 lives. Among those killed were 31 media workers. The proclamation was lifted eight days later.
Macapagal-Arroyo also placed the Philippines in a state of emergency from February 24 to March 3, 2006. This was to crush a coup plot and to keep protesters at bay.
In all instances, martial law meant curfews, the suspension of civil law, civil rights, habeas corpus, and the application or extension of military law (court-martial) to civilians.
*****
The pandemic is hitting the Philippines hard. State officials seem to be handling it very badly. There are reports of widespread abuse of power and corruption by those in and close to the government of an allegedly ailing President Rodrigo R. Duterte, etc., etc., etc. Are these portents of last quarter storms and upheavals in the country?
Is there anything that the “ever-resilient, ever-strong and ever-united” Filipino-Canadian community can collectively do to at least ease the tough socio-economic conditions of Kababayans caught in the crossfire of stressful parochial politics?
But of course, compatriots are up to their heads in keeping up and overcoming the trials, travails and burdens of living and surviving in the cold West.
Oft-repeated: Winter is coming. Before that, Fall is coming! Remember that within Fall is Halloween.
*****
Going into the unknown might easily be the nearest people can get to be normal.
Not so? Then let us distract ourselves. Let us play and listen to Jingle Bells.
*****
Pandemic time is not yet over.
Again, a friendly advice — WAWAW: Wash hands. Avoid closed spaces. Watch the distance. Avoid crowds. Wear a mask.
Post Script: Stay safe. Keep healthy.
Tomorrow is a new day. “Lundagin mo, Baby!” if I may add. #####