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Manila Bulletin devider Opinion devider In the nick of time

In the nick of time

Published Oct 27, 2023 04:05 pm

MEDIUM RARE

Jullie Y. Daza

Autumn has arrived. The leaves have fallen, are falling, will fall some more, some of them gold and golden brown, some very dry, crunchy brown. It will be Halloween in a few days and before you know it, Christmas Day, in the time of Nick.


Tomorrow, Sunday, and Monday, the first in a series of no-work days, to be followed by Nov. 1 and 2, making it four holidays in a span of five days.


All Hallows Eve, Oct. 31, the eve of All Saints falling on Tuesday, sandwiched between two holidays but not yet declared a holiday (not as of this writing), will be a sacred day for youngsters who will have fun scaring themselves and one another. Scramble the letters in “sacred” and what do you find? “Scared.” With their costumes and bloody makeup, dressed in black like ghosts from the tip of their witches’ peaked hats to their swirly capes and knee-high socks/stockings, boys and girls will go trick-or-treating, knocking on their neighbors’ doors for candy or coins.


The only other fashionable color, aside from all that morbid black, will be red, as in blood red, red as in Red Cross. It’s the favorite color of the blue-blooded (Atenista) Dick Gordon. In the time of Nick, the Quezon City branch of Red Cross celebrated its 75th anniversary a few days ago by giving out awards to 75 individuals and organizations who have contributed gallons of blood, in a manner of speaking, to keep Chairman and CEO Dick and Red Cross going at top speed.


“We always study how we can improve the way we do things and surpass our own achievements,” said Dick in typical cheerleader fashion. When Dick became a presidential candidate some years back, I asked him, “What should you win? What will happen to Red Cross then?”


He said something like why should there be a conflict between his charity work and his job as government CEO. I cannot imagine anyone else as dedicated to Red Cross with the same passion and zeal as Mr. Gordon. Memory and math may fail me, but Dick has served the Red Cross for more than half a lifetime. In the nick of time, we thank you, Dick. 

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