MEDIUM RARE
Jullie Y. Daza
My daughter has been threatening to put up her Christmas tree on time for the first day of the ‘ber months. The best way to explain this to foreigners is to say that our Christmas starts on the first of September and ends on the sixth of January.
Even Jose Mari Chan is accelerating the season of GCQ to “PasQ” because everyone but everyone is eagerly anticipating a change of mood from the gloom of the pandemic to the joyfulness promised by silver bells, carols, and the colors of December, green, red, gold. This year, Sept. 1 is not too early for Christmas!
Speaking of which, I wish the President would not wear so much black when he talks to the nation. Black is a macho color, yes, but when he addresses the people they expect to see him fully energized, raring to climb every mountain, ford every stream, follow every rainbow to reach the unreachable star. Instead of black, a depressing color, he could use more of the classic blue that seems to be his second-favorite for casual shirts and denim jackets. Incidentally, that deep shade of blue is a staple in the wardrobes of men of power (perhaps because it looks good against a red necktie). If PRRD has a stylist, she/he should also know that as a Wood Rooster, his lucky colors are red, brown, a touch of purple.
Red has the longest wavelength, maybe why the Chinese associate it with long life. Unhappy black is the absence of light and color. In the time of the pandemic, fear, sickness, with an economy in the doldrums, we need a bit of cheering up to see us through.
It was black Wednesday the 26th for friends of Archbishop Emeritus Oscar Cruz when he left us to take up residence in the Father’s house of many mansions. The retired Archbishop OVC was a thinking priest, an outspoken, outstanding citizen of the republic who never misrepresented himself as speaking for the Church when the subject was temporal matters. For the last two years, he was in virtual lockdown, deprived of the company of friends who were not allowed to visit him. But now he’s in a good place where every day is forever Christmas.