Coffee Thursdays
Home for Christmas: Yearnings of Filipinos overseas
"May the spirit of Christmas bring you peace, The gladness of Christmas give you hope, The warmth of Christmas grant you love..."
She sits by the window and witness how the snow covers the vast land of white and frost, sluggishly wraps herself in a red printed cotton blanket, her body needs the warmth more so her heart needs to ease the bitter feeling away from home. The Promised Land offered her pecuniary refuge, but empty with love, a fine-looking abode, with absence of family to share with. She forlornly remembers how Christmas is spent in her little town back in the Philippines; a simple gathering, a festive occasion, with loved ones being there. If only she could go home, but she has to stay and consoles herself this is just another day in passing.
He wanted to reside longer at work, to divert his mind with the sadness of being no-one else in a foreign land. He hears the echoes of yuletide carols, sees the jovial colors of the boughs and folly, and smells the fresh crisp of winter breeze. Suddenly, it is all swathes with no meaning. He longs more the company of his daughter and beautiful wife, if only he could share this moment with them. "I will take advantage of this season to work overtime and on Christmas day, to save and earn more money, and send to my family back home," he assures himself with grit.
He is preoccupied organizing the big party for guests and strangers in the hotel where he is employed as a duty manager. The bright lights and outlying laughter of others reflected no stronger than his beating will to be home. He smiled to welcome the people but lacked with the truest sense of merry and happy greetings. He felt distant amidst the crowd and the glitters. All he ever wanted is to be in the simplicity of where his sympathy resides. Home, a thousand miles remains unreachable. His embodiment is current, his mind is distracted and his heart is wanting more.
She timidly walks home from the night shift in the hospital. Her tired countenance flows through the emptiness of the road allowing her to wander in nostalgia and melancholy. She rustles a sweet childhood song of "Christmas in our hearts" with her low pitched voice reverberating in the hollow walls. This Christmas will be her first time away from home and family. It will also be the first time to eat Noche Buena alone in her dreary apartment.
This Christmas, our loved one, family member or friend may find themselves yearning to be home with their families in the Philippines. Though far away, let us continue to send our love beyond borders and space. Let us let them feel that there is no such thing as distance to the people we care for. The best of all gifts may not be found under the Christmas tree, it is the feeling transcended wrapped in warm thoughts and kind words from those we wanted to be with the most.
Remembering the eventful night where the Holy Family finds home in a simple basic manger. It is reflected in us our search for our personal refuge this Christmas, we hear the melody over Bethlehem and a light of the star shines in the midnight sky.
For all the Filipino workers overseas, let the message of the story take away all worries, all thoughts of uncertainty and loneliness. Let us remember this season as an inspiration with the importance and value of family as the core of the celebration. This Christmas, time and space and distance lay no limitations upon our expression of love to one another, wherever we are in this part of world.