Christmas in our hearts

I had just arrived from a weeklong shoot in Negros Oriental, and was feeling a bit sickly from fatigue. I really wanted to rest. But even just an hour’s break was not possible. The recording had to be done soonest, as the show host was leaving for Hongkong to spend Christmas there with her family.

My body felt so heavy as I picked up the small bag of portable equipment for the recording session. I was yawning repeatedly. Adding to my discomfort, there was no taxi available in our place at the time. Everybody was rushing to do their Christmas shopping.

Traffic was very bad.

Instead of agonizing over the situation, I thought of my little nephews and nieces back in the province. They would probably be very excited to receive the small gifts I had prepared for them. The cheerful thought, at least, veered my mind from the growing tension.

Then, after an interminable wait, a jeepney emerged amid the sea of other vehicles. But traffic was hardly moving. It took another several minutes for the jeepney to manage the few meters, to get close enough to where I stood.

There was no passenger aboard and no choice for me but to get on this one. I would take the jeepney until the main street, where I could hopefully get a taxi. The driver was grumbling. Passengers were scarce the whole day. Many people preferred to walk to the nearby mall than be stuck on the road.

I asked how long it would take for us to get to a point where I could find a taxi. “Forever!” the driver sneered. My innocent question irked the poor fellow.

The delay was soon beginning to get to me. What a waste of time! It was almost dusk. I was also getting annoyed by the surrounding noise of motor vehicles. Now, my anxiety was building up. Again I tried to think of the little children in our family. It no longer worked.

I could already feel the tension rising up to my nape. What had I done to deserve such torment? My resentment centered on God. Why did He put me in that situation?

To my great amazement, God answered. Yes, he did! Although, I didn’t recognize His voice, at first. He did not speak in roaring thunder. He spoke, instead, in the voice of a small child.

God’s spokesman was a boy – around 7 or 9 years old – clinging at the back of the jeepney. He was singing Christmas in Our Hearts. He was actually caroling — to me!

The boy initially annoyed me. These kids are making a career of caroling these days. It’s a kind of juvenile racket. They pop up from out of the blue, mumble unintelligible words, and then, “Merry Christmas!” They wouldn’t leave until you give.

But this boy was different. He sang in perfect tune, and with clear words. And he was looking at me all the while, like he really meant, for me, every word he uttered. His voice, though, was somewhat hushed, as if his song was for me only.

I motioned him to get inside and sit. It was not safe to be clinging on a moving vehicle. Well, the jeepney was not really moving as it should be, but, just the same, I wanted the boy to be safe.

He said the driver would make him pay fare if he sat. I said I’d pay for him and gave him the money for our fare, his and mine. Then I asked him to continue his singing.

The boy sang as earnestly. When he was done, I handed to him three pieces of five-peso coins, all that was left in my pocket. He smiled big. Just in time, I told the driver to pull over. I got off.

The caroler boy got off, too. And he stayed with me as I moved to the roadside to wait for a taxi. “What now?” I asked rather harshly. My disdainful act was met with a large grin, a symbol of pure goodwill I very rarely come by these days.

We raised his little hands, and offered to me the token of his friendship—two pieces of bite-size candy bars. In a clear tone of gladness, he told me he got four of those from señora (some affluent woman, for sure). I was dumbfounded by the gesture.

The boy’s sheer humanity haunts me. He embodies what Christmas really is. He reminds me to forget being me and try being us, at this time, at least.

God told me, through that little caroler boy, that the greatest Christmas is the one that takes place in hour hearts, whether in December or at any other time of the year.

(E-MAIL: [email protected])

* * *

Watch POR VIDA-TV’s “Bayawan” episode, for a look into the exemplary ways of this new city in Negros Oriental. This Tuesday at 6:30 p.m., on Studio 23.