Things Gone Wrong
it’s christmas and i could hardly feel the christmas spirit lingering in the atmosphere. by now, there ought to have been several firecracker stands just a stone’s throw away from where i live. by now, shabbily dressed kids would have been bringing along makeshift musical instruments and singing christmas carols in voices that could very well shatter the ear drums. by now, there would have been several plans for christmas parties and christmas breaks, and there ought to be a lot of christmas trees sprouting from every corner of the city.
but this december is very drab and i can clearly see that the christmas spirit has just been exorcised from the body of dumaguete city. december 2005 is just like every other month: boring, plain, nothing. there is the occassional pelting of the rain though, as if that’s to make any of us a bit happier, but beyond that there is absolutely nothing.
i don’t know what’s wrong. perhaps people are just so caught up with their problems that they find christmas impractical. maybe our philippine peso has been sapped of its buying power so people just find those P26.00 greeting cards too expensive.
i’m hoping this december will briskly pass. for the remainder of the time, i do what i always do during christmas breaks: i take a stroll around the deserted silliman campus and just contemplate on things underneath the canopy of acacia trees. it’s very relaxing and it’s very peaceful. it’s not as boring as a lot of students picture it out to be. and while i’m at it, i might as well try to find out if the christmas spirit has been hanging out with the silliman spirit in some dingy corner.
