Merry Holidays

     The past few weeks has been a blur of activity. Everyone goes a little bit crazy during Christmastime here in Manila, and I'm now feeling the effects of late nights and days spent meeting old friends and braving the snake-like cashier queues of the boutiques (I REFUSE to stress about the fact that I was not able to get presents to all the people on my list... good thing there's such a thing as a HAPPY NEW YEAR present).

      Yesterday was a typical "busy" day. I had to wake up at 5:30 to get to the school by 7, where I met with the Teatro students and blocked 8 out of 12 scenes of the high school's theatre club's play by 11 am. Ran off to have lunch with old chorale-mate and friend Denden. It was great to see her, and catch up on our lives. (Denden dear, if you're reading this, thank you for the lovely present and the even more precious note that came with it! You'll always have Tata and I by your side. *hug*) That was an afternoon well spent, and spent I was indeed when I came home! But despite my weariness, I HAD to finish the book my twinnie gave me for Christmas:

     For all the Little Women readers out there, you MUST read this book if you want a very plausible interpretation of what Father March went through when he went off to war. Geraldine Brooks knew that Little Women was heavily autobiographical, and so she drew on actual journals and letters of Bronson Alcott, the transcendentalist philosopher and educator who was father to the much beloved Louisa May Alcott. She came up with a very vivid portrait of a man who, despite committing unspeakably horrible sins out of weakness wrought by being "dipped into the fire,"  remained an idealist and a "good, kind" man.

     (Good and kind... two simple adjectives yet they are the most important attributes I think we should all aspire to be. Give me a simple, good and kind man any day over a worldly, sophisticated and charming one!)

     The book provided a darker and more adult view of the March family, and only served to deepen my ardor for the real life Alcott family that inspired the novel. I've been looking for this book in the FULLY BOOKED outlets but haven't been able to find a copy! I hope to get myself this book for Chrimastime. If you see it a bookstore, please, DO inform me where!!!

     But I digress. Here is a passage from "March" that struck me deeply (Mea culpa!!), and it serves as a timely reminder to look past the material gifts and the food-laden party tables this Christmas:

     "...I had come in stages to a different belief about how one should be in this life. I now felt convinced that the greater part of a man's duty consists in abstaining from much that he is in the habit of consuming. If I prolong my dark hours by the consumption of costly oil, then I waste both the life of the beast slaughtered for the purpose, and the clarity of mind which comes from timely sleep... If I indulge in coffee then I pay to pollute myself, when instead I could have had a cleansing draught of water at no charge at all...Further, we found that by limiting our own consumption to two meals a day, we were able to set aside a basket of provisions from which the girls were able to exact a pleasure far greater than sating an animal appetite... and that one luxury that we could not forswear; giving our mite to those unfortunates even poorer than we."

     I'm grateful that I have today and tomorrow free for reflection. Though I do not regret the wonderful hours spent in the company of good friends (what happy, golden hours they were!), there is much to be said for isolated contemplation... something I shall start on rather tardily, but better late than never! :)