Happy New Year!

Every year should be a solace for each and everyone of us. Let us just remember to count the blessings of the past, to forget the bitterness of our yesterday, and to continue searching for what’s really up for us… Happy New Year!

Aaron Restua’ 2008

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year sa akin!!!

What would I be?

What would I be?

Got no Title for Christmas...

When I was younger, I used to think of Christmas as a season that would bring a lot of gifts for me. I even thought that Christmas was a special excuse to receive gifts even if my birthday was completely over more than two months earlier. What I know then is only to receive them and perhaps, to say thank you afterwards. Who would have said that the world does not revolve on me, receiving much and many more? Besides, they say that Christmas is for kids. But now I'm not anymore a kid and even if I'm still quite young, I'd sooner or later be one of those who give gifts for godchildren. If Christmas then is for children, then I'll never be happy anymore in the coming years for I'll no longer be one of them who awaits Christmas. Would Christmas be not for me anymore just like before?
It sounds peculiar but this feeling, I guess, is inevitably felt by young-adults like me. It might be a product of melancholic nostalgia yet; on the other hand, this must imply something creative. Who says that Christmas is really meant for kids? Isn't it the other way around?
You might ask why but the real essence of Christmas is apparently rooted on how an adult Jesus of Nazareth dared to give his life on behalf of our salvation. Let us look at it this way, when Jesus was still young, he has received gifts from the magi. But in turn, more than thirty years later, he gave the best gift for everyone to receive.
When the time comes that I'll no longer be receiving those gifts because it's my turn to give, I'd rather be proud than stare on the bitterness of the expenses they might cost me for it is Jesus himself who taught us that Christmas is not about receiving but it is about giving. Then, we could say that Christmas is not really for children. Rather, it is for adults because it is their chance to be like Jesus. And besides, Christmas would be useless if the Child Jesus was born for non-sense. Let us bear in mind that like Jesus, we are born for a reason.

A Light inside the Flower?

Call me unfit to be in this present age yet I still cannot comprehend why plastic yellow flowers with a light bulb within are considered as Christmas ornaments. Did they have any connection to the birth of Jesus? Are they even connected to any Christmas custom of a country called Neverland or Andeleisha? They are not even similar to poinsettias. I still cannot see a connection of a sunflower (if those are sunflowers) to Christmas. Have you known why? If you have an answer, please drop by my friendster account or e-mail me at aaronrestua@yahoo.com or do visit my blogspot at www.heiroftheoverman.blogspot.com and leave some comments. If you are a wonder wanderer like me, try contemplating the lighted flowers adorning the lawns of the rotonda in lower Session road. What are those doing there if Panagbenga is set on February? Thank you very much. Have a Flowery Christmas!!! Hohoho…

The Lighter Side of Darkness

Are you afraid of the dark? No, this is not about brownouts nor power shortage problems nor any Meralco project and their stupid award for the most lighted house this Christmas as if saying that it’s all right to waste electricity despite much demise they deliver afterwards. This is about darkness and how it is always associated to evil forces and the like. Much to my surprise, others would see dusk as the time when demonic forces turn out in their supremacy over us. Devoting darkness as an attribute of the evil is not just contributions by mere beliefs of the old folklores but our contemporary movies as well as they show frightening creatures manifesting themselves in the darkness of the night. Others would even assume that to be born or to die as the sun is about to set is not so pleasing and for others, bad luck. Now, if night is meant to be an attribute of evil, why have God chosen the longest of them to be the time of Christ’s birth? Well, at least, why have he allowed it to be celebrated on Christmas Eve?
Always remember: If God is indeed a God, He holds supremacy over all, even in the darkness.
Let us just figure it out in simple terms: Christmas lights would not be much appreciated unless it is placed in the dark, a candle too would be senseless if not amidst darkness. Jesus Christ in His turn was born amidst darkness to prove one thing, that God is supreme over all. And yes, He rules even out of darkness. Clive Staples Lewis seeks to give an answer through his analysis on the problem of pain which is quite similar to that of St. Thomas Aquinas’ answer to the problem of evil. The question would necessarily project the argument that if God ever existed, there would be no evil and no pain since He would lord over all and hence, evil or pain cannot exist. The answer would be as simple as saying that God is so good that even out of evil or pain, He seeks to bring out goodness. I’ll just say that God is so good that even out of darkness, He dared to shed light upon mankind and that most beautiful light that is no other than Jesus.
So the next time that you’re caught upon the dark, just remember that light would not look in its best without darkness.

Why not Celebrate Christmas on my Birthday?

Have you ever questioned why Christmas falls on December 25? No body can really be certain about the exact date of the birth of the Jesus of Nazareth because no part of the Sacred Scripture will implicitly tell us that the Christ’s birth happened on the 25th except from the periscope where it tells us about the census conducted by the authorities of that time. And besides, the Jewish calendar is quite different from the Gregorian one that we follow today. Their concept of celebrating a feast on a particular day is also quite different from us. A day for celebrations usually starts on the dusk of the preceding day. Hence, we shall see that the feast of the Passover starts through a dinner to be shared by Jewish families. But why celebrate it on the 25th anyway if the date is not necessarily that one? Or the perennial question that I ask myself: why not celebrate it on the day of my birthday?
The eve of December 24 up to the dawn of December 25 is characterized as the day in the calendar wherein the night seems to be the longest throughout the year. Hence, it is part of the Church’s tradition to speak of the birth of the Christ in the longest of the nights that is perhaps implied by the star followed by the Magi. This was however not the first case because originally, the date is set on the 6th of January. However, a pagan ritual regarding the winter solstice that is set on the eve of December 24 seems to have been taken into account and is celebrated festively better than Christ’s birth. That is why it has been decided to transfer the celebration on that day perhaps to overshadow the colors of the pagan ritual.
In our local customs, the Philippines is seen to be celebrating Christmas starting from the 16th of December and culminates it on the feast of the Three Kings. This custom covers 9 days more than the traditional 12 days of other countries. Others would even say that Christmas season officially starts when the ber-months strike. The practice is much earlier in comparison to other countries. It is because the Philippines is the only country recognized by the pontificate in celebrating the 9 dawn masses in preparation for Christmas day. But have you ever known that even if Filipinos start the Christmas season early, they also end it early.
Taking into account the calendar of the Church, the celebration of the day of the magi is not the formal end of Christmas season. It is also not referring to the local feast of the holy child. Christmas season formally ends in the solemnity of Christ’s Baptism. Differences are due to cultural interpretation of the season.
Would it matter? Is it wrong? It is not, I suppose. The Church is following two dominant aspects, the scriptures and traditions and they supplement each other. Traces of this so-called “inculturation” and “appropriation” practice may be inferred from the practices of early Christians as early as the time of St. Paul when they admitted non-Jews and uncircumcised people for Baptism.
It was not my mere intent to justify the long-lived traditional date for Christmas. Moreover, one should realize that the message seems to tell us that since the date for Jesus’ birth is really uncertain and is at times dependent upon cultural practices and variation. Hence, it is upon us to make every day a Christmas day. As long as one feel treating it so, Christmas spirit and the values it reminds us should be kept not just on a cold December day but all throughout the year.

On Christmas and Ads

Christmas has always been a season that even the world of TV ads seems to celebrate. We know that apart from the 5-minute long thematic Station IDs of the giant networks, there would always be these 30 second long commercials expressing how products can be enjoyed throughout the season. Hasty enough to make their ads fitting for the time being Christmas, others would just dare to project even a beer-party session of Manny Pacquiao on a Christmas eve together with friends from the showbiz industry. All of those yearly concepts and much money spent for airtime just for the heck of saying Merry Christmas and a concealed plead to buy their products. But can anyone of them make a difference from the rest? Can anyone of them project some endearing values that are very timely not just for any Christmas season but for perennial occurrences as well? I can answer yes if and only if you will agree with me. One proof, I guess, is the latest Christmas ad by a fastfood chain. Even if the same purpose to sell their products is apparent, it seems that it elates itself apart from the others by touching the heart of viewers especially the mothers. If you haven’t had the time to watch it, it goes this way:
It was just a lazy day and malling might have been the great minute’s escape of the mother from tiring household chores though not much of them because she has to carry her child. If not, it may be a scheduled day for near-Christmas shopping in a tight budget. That may be the precise reason why the mother cautions her child not to ask for anything. The day’s twist turns when the child noticed the mother’s eyeglasses as it fell off in its rightful position perhaps out of a loose tread or a semi-broken part. The mother tried to fix it before she found her child running towards a boutique. At first, it seemed for the mother that the child is about to break her golden rule not to ask for things to be bought for him. To her surprise, the boy is about to buy, out of his own savings, a new eyeglasses for her saying that it would be his Christmas gift for her. The mother, touched by the boy’s warm attempt to give him a gift asked about the boy’s wish who later on found himself feasting over his favorite fastfood meal.
No I am not on the company’s payroll and much less can I claim that I’m a discreet part of that fastfood stuff. But I can’t keep on stopping by at the front of the television whenever I chance upon their latest Christmas ad, which I suppose, has much more to say than mere station ID’s of the giant TV networks that were made to rival the creation of the other and for rating’s domain. The projection of values in a mother-child relationship: this, I suppose, is what makes this latest TV ad stand out from the rest that were merely portraying a mock Korean love story over a serving of jjamppong or that of an herb supplement portraying a man running backwards saying that he is stronger.
The pedagogical nature of the ad might have been hidden in the way the short-lived story communicates itself to the heart of those who would chance upon it in their television screens and how they seem to stop for a while and ponder on its message. More than mere attraction to invite viewers to treat their child in their favorite fastfood chain, it makes children realize how they can do something to make their parents happy. Most of the times, it is not just about mere gifts that children try to offer for their parents on Christmas eve but the intentions of a son or a daughter to recognize them. More to what a simple attempt to make them happy by simple acts of generosity, parents tend to see these ways as acts of love not just repaying their efforts in parenting but an eternal reward to keep for the rest of their lives.