DO INMATES GET TO CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS?

What is Christmas? 

It is tenderness for the past, 

Courage for the present, 

And HOPE for the future. 

---W. Ellis 

Homebound with my kiddos, snuggly and refreshed, my warmest greetings of peace to the World Pulse sisterhood! ✌️

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE! ❤️

Few hours from now, every household will gather around lavish preparations of variety of dishes which we Filipinos, came to practice as part of our culture. This is what we call 'media noche.' Typically, everybody take part in this merry-making, grandpas and grandmas, nearest kins and relatives, grandchildren, uncles and aunties all gathered around a huge, heavily ornate Christmas tree with multi-colored wrapped gifts under it, eagerly waiting to unwrap these boxes. This will do for some well-to-do families though. (As what I've seen during one of the Magandang Buhay ABS-CBN segment featuring the elite family of couple celebrities Cheska and Doug Kramer and their cuties.) 

For us commoners, we, just in the midst of poverty and wealthy line, how do we celebrate Christmas? 

Personally, I planned to celebrate it through a minimalist way possible. A single cake for the kiddos, a vegan spaghetti with unmeat garnish, a buko salad with only cream and cheese in it, and a grilled bangus that just can be bought in the nearest 'talipapa' (wet market). That will be our Christmas. ❤️❤️❤️

So, how about yours? 

How do you get to celebrate Christmas? 

Is this the occasion that you most look forward to as well for extreme gluttonous celebration? 

Are you excited enough to unbox those richly wrapped things under the Christmas tree? 

If so, you're one lucky soul in the universe! ❤️

What about those brothers and sisters of ours who can't even buy a decent bread? These are the ones who rely on begging. Jobless, unsheltered nomads. Do they celebrate Christmas? 

What about those poor, tormented souls, convicted under a judge gavel, who just get to see their love ones during timely visits, these inmates behind judgeful bars, do they celebrate Christmas too? 

What does Christmas mean to them? 

LOVE. PRAYER. HOPE❤️❤️❤️

A huge realization just hit me, Christmas is not all about those lavish foods on our table, not just those sparkling boxes under the Christmas tree, nor the signatured crisp clothes that you get to wear. It's beyond those only what we perceive through the eyes. Christmas is something that we feel from the bottom of our hearts and something that stirs the abyss of our souls.

THAT'S CHRISTMAS SPIRIT! ❤️❤️❤️

Hope to inspire with this story. 

Right when the first number sat this month of festivity, me and some colleagues friends of mine in teaching and co-artists, got our hands full through gathering preloved items for kids, and adult clothings intended for the typhoon Tisoy victims. It was dropped in the city's focal center, for them to distribute it. 

We then proceeded with our Outreach Program in the Tacloban City Jail which housed more than three hundred male inmates. 

https://youtu.be/qmjFguiiTW8

Please feel free to watch this video in my YouTube channel. Thank you. 

After a thorough frisking, me and a company of five were ushered inside a spacious gym were male inmates begun looking for seats in throng, their eyes, fixed on us, two girls under the company of five males who brought our oversize pot. 

At first, they were eyeing us all with doeful eyes, alert and edgy almost wildlike. These gave me a kind of hair bristling shiver honestly, yet thanks God for a silent prayer that was heard, they all settled down camly and even began to boisterously joined in our Haribol chants. The mantra worked well with them, which was in fact a music meditation to release stress and give relaxation to the spirit. And that was good enough that after an hour of chanting, they were so happy to fall in line as we gave them a laddleful of delicious and nutritious steaming macaroni soup which we cooked all by ourselves, gathered from the previous days of carolling in the wet market where we've been generously given some vegetables and condiments. 

There were smiles from their eyes when they sang one loud male voice, \"thank you\" to us when we bid goodbye. ❤️

Yesterday, we then pushed through with our Christmas giving for the 67 women inmates where we brought along some haribol candies for them which we self-made. (Refer for the recipe in my video.) 

I talked with them a short orientation of Proper Physical and Mental Hygiene, then we proceeded with our music meditation which glowed them with eagerness as they chant \"Rama, rama\". 

I was so touched then when a woman about my age, hugged me and whispered to me 'please pray for me.' She even called me by my name. It was then familiarity dawned on me. It was Mae! (not her real name) She was a college bud of mine! Tears were as well brimming in my eyes when I hugged her back. I just can't believe though that we'll met again in a most unlikely place as such! What's more unbelievable was the thought that how she ended up there.... We became college buddies despite having different courses, she, an elementary education student while I took both Elem and Secondary course, we were both active in student leadership during our freshmen and sophomore years. Oh my God! There were many questions forming in my mind yet she just cut it all short for me when she answered, \"... better than yesterday\", when I asked her if how she was. 

Life is real, life is earnest! 

And the grave is not its goal. 

Dust thou art, to dust returnest, 

Was not spoken of the soul. 

---Psalm of Life by Henry Wandsworth Longfellow ❤️

A Grade 9 poem that I used to teach and know by heart reverberates in my ears.... 

Tell me not in mournful numbers, 

Life is but, an empty dream. 

For the soul is dead that slumbers,

And things are not what they seem. 

We all bid goodbye with a heartfelt greeting of MERRY CHRISTMAS to each and everyone. ❤️

As for my friend Mae, she hugged me again and told me that our visit was the best gift they'd have for Christmas. I promised her then that we'll try to visit more often for music meditations and perhaps we'll be able to extend more kind teachings too. 

YES, INMATES TOO CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS! AND I AM JUST SO GLAD TO BE A PART OF IT. ❤️❤️❤️

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE. 

THANK YOU FOR READING MY STORY. 

Much love, 

Angel Lasona ❤️

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