Wish I may, wish I might

by Dinna Chan Vasquez

We are not going to come up with a list of material things we want for 2009 here. Instead, what we have is a wish list of (mostly) intangible things, some of which may not be immediately possible. Still, we believe that is better to start the year on an optimistic note than to mumble, ‘‘We’re not gonna make it.’’

1. Economic recovery. We hope and pray that the global economy will improve as it is difficult to imagine a world with more jobless and homeless people. Filipinos, in particular, have gone through so much and deserve something better than hunger and lack of access to what should be their right—education, healthcare, and a better quality of life.

2. Less materialism. The weeks before Christmas have shown that we have forgotten that the season is one of reflection, of looking back, and saying thanks for countless blessings, of being with family and loved ones and of sharing with the less fortunate. Instead, we have gone berserk swiping our cards and forking out cash for things that we can do without. Sadly, Christmas, for many people, has become a time of new clothes, gluttony, and super-materialism. Even the Simbang Gabi has been relegated to a venue for underage courtship (and teen pregnancies). Caroling has ceased to be an enjoyable activity but as a means to harass homeowners. May we find the joy in Christmas again.

3. More trees. If every person would plant at least one tree every year, the world, pardon the cliché, would be a much better world. Someone we know has made it a point to plant trees when and where he can. He is now 75 years old. We hope more people would be like him.

4. World peace. This pageant-ish phrase is really the solution to everyone’s problems. The human race doesn’t need another war. We don’t want more deaths and destruction. Conflict may be a reality for some races but it should not be a feud or an obsession that destroys lives.

5. Peace of mind. Freedom from mundane worries such as where to get our next meal or how to find the cash to pay the electric bill would be great. It would be nice to go to bed at night without thinking about such things. We’re not really asking to be millionaires but a little bit of financial comfort for all people of the world would really be nice.

6. Young people who are less self-absorbed. We’ve seen it in game shows here and even in the United States—young people in their 20s who don’t know who the Beatles are. They would just shrug their shoulders and say, ‘‘They’re dead anyway. Sorry Ringo.’’ When we were young, we knew who Cary Grant was even if he was not of our time. We knew who Ramon Valera was, even if he was already dead by the time we were teenagers. So it was a shock to learn upon designer Ernest Santiago’s death that people in their 20s didn’t even know who he was. ‘‘He was old, wasn’t he?’’ they would say. In our humble opinion, the world has so much more to offer than just parties where people don’t really know each other, designers with no originality and playlists with songs that not even their creators can understand and appreciate. Ignorance is not cool. The Beatles are cool, dead or alive.

7. Less children for families who can’t afford to raise them. At the risk of being excommunicated, we hope that poor families stop having kids one after another. We hope uneducated teenagers as young as 13 not get pregnant. We pray that people would not equate the use of condoms with prostitution and use that as an excuse to get knocked up and give birth to babies who will have no future.

8. Actors and actresses with star quality. Sans makeup and dressed in a shapeless duster, Nora Aunor has presence. Vilma Santos is not the most beautiful woman in the Philippines but she’s a movie star from head to foot. These days, many so-called stars are just people who are better-looking than most of us. We hope to see more showbiz wannabes with the X-factors, that quality which made superstars out of Aunor and Santos.