MEDIUM RARE
Jullie Y. Daza
It’s in the air, all right. Prematurely, perhaps, but necessary to our sense of survival.
As TV anchors keep reminding, Christmas is just a wish away. On one of my daring trips outside the gates of our house, I drove from Quezon City to Manila – with the blessings of our barangay center and Gen. Guillermo Eleazar – to see what kind of a world has happened to Metro Manila since March 15, 2020. Some of the “bad traffic” is still out there – but lucky me, I didn’t get caught in the rain or a flood.
A real surprise was the absence of graffiti in Manila, not a scratch on the walls of the Quiapo underpass, still looking pristine, not on the facades of buildings and store fronts. How was this possible? The lockdown and curfew, parents keeping their naughty children indoors, or just because the ruffians like what they see: a city to like and be proud of, a mayor to whom they could be grateful for some small favor or other? As psychologists since New York’s ex-Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s “no broken windows” concept try to explain it, ugliness inspires ugliness, whereas beauty inspires neatness, order, cleanliness. As Mayor Isko’s supporters brag, “not a single bulb” hanging on the trees standing along Roxas Blvd. has been broken or stolen. It could be that the view from my drive-through was a limited one (though I don’t buy this “logical” explanation).
In another part of town, on a date with colleagues thirsty for a “reunion,” we gathered at Sandee Masigan’s XO restaurant at Conrad Maison, MOA –splendorously, elegantly lighted, refreshingly cooled, with Christmas trees done in pink-silver-gold strategically placed. What a shame, that there weren’t more browsers to delight in the airiness and the spaciousness. Sandee’s staff follow health protocols to a T, and proudly report that since the quarantine was eased, they’ve catered a total of nine “small” wedding receptions.
Is life slowly returning to normal? Maybe not yet, but I know nothing will stop our all-Filipino Christmas. As tirelessly as churchmen nag about falling into the commercial trap of the season, am I glad our merchants were first to feel it in the air, merrily way ahead of Scrooge, with enough to multiply the cheerfulness.
Jullie Y. Daza
It’s in the air, all right. Prematurely, perhaps, but necessary to our sense of survival.
As TV anchors keep reminding, Christmas is just a wish away. On one of my daring trips outside the gates of our house, I drove from Quezon City to Manila – with the blessings of our barangay center and Gen. Guillermo Eleazar – to see what kind of a world has happened to Metro Manila since March 15, 2020. Some of the “bad traffic” is still out there – but lucky me, I didn’t get caught in the rain or a flood.
A real surprise was the absence of graffiti in Manila, not a scratch on the walls of the Quiapo underpass, still looking pristine, not on the facades of buildings and store fronts. How was this possible? The lockdown and curfew, parents keeping their naughty children indoors, or just because the ruffians like what they see: a city to like and be proud of, a mayor to whom they could be grateful for some small favor or other? As psychologists since New York’s ex-Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s “no broken windows” concept try to explain it, ugliness inspires ugliness, whereas beauty inspires neatness, order, cleanliness. As Mayor Isko’s supporters brag, “not a single bulb” hanging on the trees standing along Roxas Blvd. has been broken or stolen. It could be that the view from my drive-through was a limited one (though I don’t buy this “logical” explanation).
In another part of town, on a date with colleagues thirsty for a “reunion,” we gathered at Sandee Masigan’s XO restaurant at Conrad Maison, MOA –splendorously, elegantly lighted, refreshingly cooled, with Christmas trees done in pink-silver-gold strategically placed. What a shame, that there weren’t more browsers to delight in the airiness and the spaciousness. Sandee’s staff follow health protocols to a T, and proudly report that since the quarantine was eased, they’ve catered a total of nine “small” wedding receptions.
Is life slowly returning to normal? Maybe not yet, but I know nothing will stop our all-Filipino Christmas. As tirelessly as churchmen nag about falling into the commercial trap of the season, am I glad our merchants were first to feel it in the air, merrily way ahead of Scrooge, with enough to multiply the cheerfulness.