Happy Little New Year

For our final column of the year, let me share with you a short story written by Ellen Robena Field which to my mind not only encapsulates the reason for the season but focuses on the values that we need to carry over to the new year. A joy full and meaning full 2013 to everyone!

*      *      *      *

One cold morning Maurice awoke from his dreams and sat up in bed and listened. He thought he heard a knock at his window; So he crept sleepily out of bed, opened the window, and whispered: “Who is there?”

“I am the little New Year, ho! ho!” replied a tinkling voice. “And I’ve promised to bring a blessing to everyone. But I am such a little fellow I need somebody to help me distribute them. Won’t you please come out and help?”

“Oh, it’s so cold!” said Maurice, “I’d rather go back to my warm bed.”

“Never mind the cold,” urged the New Year, “please help me.”

So Maurice hurried into his clothes, and was soon out in the yard. There he found a rosy-cheeked boy a little smaller than himself, pulling a large cart which seemed to be loaded with good things. On one side of this cart was painted the word “Love,” and on the other “Kindness.” As soon as the New Year saw Maurice he said, “Now please take hold and help me pull,” and down the driveway and up the hill they travelled until they came to an old shanty.

“Here is where I make my first call,” said the New Year. Maurice looked wonderingly at him. “Why, nobody lives here but an old man who works for us; and he hasn’t any children!” “He needs my help,” said the New Year; “for grown people like to be thought of just as much as children do. You shovel out a path to his door, while I unload some of my blessings; and the little hands went busily at work, piling up warm clothing, wood, and a new year’s dinner, the New Year singing as he worked:

“Oh, I am the little New Year; ho! ho! Shaking my bells with a merry din; So open your door and let me in.”

Old Joe, hearing some noise outside, came to the door, and when he saw all the nice gifts the tears ran down his cheeks for gladness; and as he carried them into the house, he whispered: “The dear Lord has been here tonight.”

“Where am we going now?” asked Maurice, as they ran down the hill. “To take some flowers to a poor sick girl,” answered the New Year.

Soon they came to a small white house, where the New Year stopped. “Why, Bessie lives here,” said Maurice. “I didn’t know she was sick.” “See,” said the New Year, “this window is open a little; let us throw this bunch of pinks into the room. They will please her when she wakes, and will make her happy for several days.”

Then they hurried to other places, leaving some blessing behind them.

“What a wonderful cart you have,” said Maurice, “though you have taken so much out, it never seems to get empty.” “You are right, Maurice, there is never any end to love and kindness. As long as I find people to love and be kind to, my cart is full of blessings for them; and it will never grow empty until I can no longer find people to help. If you will go with me every day and help me scatter my blessings, you will see how happy you will be all the long year.”

“A happy New Year!” called someone; and Maurice found himself in bed, and his sister standing in the doorway smiling at him. “Have you had a pleasant dream, dear?” she asked.

“Why, where is the little New Year?” said Maurice, “he was just here with me.”

“Come into Mamma’s room and see what he has brought you,” answered his sister. There in a snowy white cradle he found a tiny baby brother, the gift of the New Year. How happy Maurice was then! But he did not forget his dream. Old Joe and Bessie had their gifts, too, and Maurice tried so hard to be helpful that he made all his friends glad because the happy New Year had come.

*      *      *      *

Tributes: Genteel is the adjective that comes to mind when I think of Justice Carolina Grino Aquino. She was gentle but firm. Aristocratic in bearing but considerate and kind in her ways.

Although in the guise of a noble, Justice Grino Aquino never let her standing define her. She topped the 1950 Bar exams with a grade of 92.02%. President Corazon Aquino appointed her to the Supreme Court, becoming the fourth woman to occupy a seat in the highest court of the land. This appointment was a testament to both President Aquino and her as she was chosen notwithstanding that her husband, former Chief Justice Ramon Aquino, administered the oath of office to President Marcos in February 1986. I had the good privilege of serving with her for several years in the Mandatory Continuing Legal Education Committee where she served as its first chairperson.

Despite the appearance of refinement in speech, dress and disposition, Justice Grino Aquino is fearless in conveying her opinions as embodied in her memorable dissent in Garcia v BOI as well as in conducting difficult administrative investigations such as the 2003 Bar exam leakage and the 2009 Integrated Bar of the Philippines elections.

Justice Carol lived a full and purposeful life. This is not the time for us to grieve but to celebrate, a moment of gratefulness that somehow we were all blessed to have known a woman like her.

And speaking of legal aristocrats, let me also bid farewell to former dean Venicio “Veni” Flores of the PLM Graduate School of Law. A dapper dresser and a gentleman to a fault, Veni’s kind and thoughtful ways will be missed by family, friends and students.

*      *      *      *

“The object of a new year is not that we should have a new year.

It is that we should have a new soul.” – G.K. Chesterton

*      *      *      *

E-mail: [email protected]