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BY LUIS BUENAFLOR JR.
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IT’S THE TIME of the year when the city is festive with all the Christmas decorations and music blaring in the malls. The natives are intoxicated with Christmas cheer and in the spirit of giving and receiving.
It’s also the time of the year when politicians and those planning to run in the coming elections are doing their best impersonating Santa Claus. I don’t mean here the beard and big belly although most of them are fat, but in gift-giving with the hope that they will be remembered during elections.
When I was a schoolboy I was filled with anticipation as the Christmas season drew near. I always looked forward to the festivities, the food and most specially the gifts from my parents and godparents.
But as we grow older our expectations of the season changes; as a teenager in the dazed and confused days of the ‘70s it was a long vacation from university – meaning, time to hang out with friends, get high and get laid. This was the time of “free love” when marijuana was not yet illegal and AIDS was non-existent.
As I grew older and had a family of my own, my perspective of Christmas also changed. This time for me Christmas is for the kids and as a parent I made sure that my kids will always have happy memories of Christmas.
I am now an “Abuelo” and my perspective of Christmas still remains – it is for the kids, this time however for my “Nietos.” For the uninformed “Abuelo” is Spanish for grandfather and “Nietos” is grandchildren; nothing fancy here it’s just my Iberian roots.
From toys to getting the “girl” to giving your family a happy Christmas we always have our Christmas list or wishes. And as an old man now or as an “aging hippie” as my oldest son prefers to describe me, I still have my Christmas list.
So without further ado here’s “an old man’s” Christmas list:
Imagine there’s no heaven
It’s easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people living for today
Imagine there’s no countries
It isn’t hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people living life in peace, you
You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will be as one
Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people sharing all the world, you
You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will be as one.
Yes, these are the lyrics of that John Lennon composition Imagine and for this “old man” they say it all. This is my Christmas list for the world, for humanity and for the natives of this archipelago.
I have lived a full life, I have done a lot of things and experienced adventures and escapades that would probably take twice the lifetime of an average person to do or even imagine doing. I want for nothing more. I am not poor, I just happen to have no money.
I am from the “Woodstock” generation, an “aging hippie’ who still believes in “make love not war.” I have loved and lost now in the December of my life I am in love for the last time.
At the end of the day “although it’s been said many times many ways, Merry Christmas.”/PN
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