EDITORIAL - A truly Filipino Merry Christmas to you all!

The Philippines is one of the few places in the world where appearances can truly be deceiving. Hard times in the country are not as readily apparent as they are elsewhere. And it is not because Filipinos have great talent in masking misery.

It is just that Filipinos are not easily overwhelmed by hardship or misfortune. We are not called smiling Filipinos for nothing.

If we can mask anything by our jolly nature, it is never by design. We aptly fit that poem by an anonymous author that goes:

"There was a dachshund once so long/who hadn't any notion how long it took/ to notify his tail of his emotion/and so one day it happened/that while his eyes were filled with sadness/his little tail went wagging on because of previous gladness."

And so, despite the hard times, the hardship is not very evident around Christmas time. What little the Filipino has, he splurges, for himself, for family, for friends. One can almost add — with nary a thought for the morrow.

But the morrow is just around the corner. Both experts and indications are almost one is saying things will get even harder next year. But then again, that is next year. In the meantime, here we are in the here and now. And so off and be merry we go.

That is why the malls are still full. The wild abandon is still there. That the purchases may be a little less does not show in the faces of eagerness. As far as Christmas is concerned, there are purchases to be made. To not do so is so un-Filipino.

And so what can we do, we here in this newspaper, we here in this business of telling stories and dispensing with information? What uncertainties may lie in the horizon, let the horizon take care of its own, at least for now.

For we are Filipino too. And so, with hearts that cannot be otherwise but with similar beatings as yours, please allow us in this paper, The FREEMAN, as well as the rest of the member publications of The Star Group, to sincerely wish you a very Merry Christmas!