PAGBABAGO Dr. Florangel Rosario-Braid While going through the Christmas and New Year greetings on Facebook and the social media, I can’t help noticing how the latter have become so creative in providing us a wide choice of greetings through “Emoji” and packaged wise sayings and literary works. Thus, we had saved hours of travel to bookstores and malls to select suitable cards for the occasion. Our digital society had undoubtedly changed the marketing style not only of post offices, traditional photograph studios but also manufacturers, suppliers, and traders. Thus, the transformation of the photograph industry like Kodak, the card industry like Hallmark, and the stores that market their products. Observers say the biggest change in the greeting card industry is the transition from cards bought in stores to those personalized online. One of course saves money and time not to mention saving the environment through this change. But many still continue to buy greeting cards which they send by mail for the simple reason that they still prefer its physical presence – that the receiver can hold the card and keep it as a remembrance. It’s similar to our appreciation for the book in its physical not digital form as we can keep it in our library and use it as a reference from time to time. Thus, the physical display of giving and receiving provides satisfaction that the online greeting cannot provide. But the more important point I’d like to make is the kind of message that is transmitted in our online greeting cards. I think all of us would agree that we have more choices offered in the online platform. I am continually amazed at the variety of messages offered for every occasion. And for Christmas and New Year, the messages center primarily on wishes for love, joy, peace, wealth, success, good health, goodwill, laughter, prosperity, closer relationships with loved ones, long life, prosperity, fulfillment of hopes and dreams. In our country where there is endemic poverty, we remember messages of wishing for food on the table for everyone. Some pray for the end of violence, especially to children and women, and employment for everyone. But I would like to end with an emphasis on the title of this piece. Which is that of hoping and wishing for an enduring “moral compass.” A society where moral integrity is supreme and becomes the key principle of government as well as the value that binds the conduct of all Filipinos. For if we examine what surveys over the years had shown, that among the top 10 problems of our society had always been the following: poverty, corruption, drug use, pollution and environmental destruction, human rights, food security, education, unemployment. To address these concerns will require a leadership and a citizenry that is morally upright. History had likewise shown that these problems have been a repeat of the past and that most of them were the consequences of the moral crisis. How we translate this hope for 2023 and beyond so that it becomes a mantra, would hopefully become the task of our creative writers, artists, and image makers. My email, [email protected]