HUMMING IN MY UNIVERSE By Jim Paredes (The Philippine Star) | Updated December 18, 2016

When my kids were young, they made their Christmas wish lists hoping that Lydia and I, their ninongs and ninangs, uncles and aunts and everyone who gave them presents would get them what they wished for. It is so simple and joyful to be a kid at Christmas.

As a child, I never made a wish list because when I was growing up, we were not rich enough to get what we truly wished for. In a middle class family of 10 siblings, everything is planned, rationed and apportioned. We were thankful for anything we got.

Even if I never made a Christmas wish list, more than ever, I want to make this Christmas wish list now. I will not ask for small items such as gadgets, clothes, shoes and other material things. I don’t need anything for myself. My wish list is actually not only for myself, but for the world and all of humanity.

I am addressing this to God and to every human being. We are co-creators every moment that we are alive on this earth. It’s time we act more lovingly towards each other and the world. Here goes:

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1) I wish for peace and solace for the people of Aleppo and all other places where war is being waged. What has been going on there is hell on earth, or as a UN representative described it, “a meltdown of humanity.” Both the perpetrators and victims of wars have lost a big portion of their humanity. May God restore their spirit to live their lives in peace, abundance and dignity.

2) I wish we would stop spreading lies and falsehood. It does not serve anyone when we post made-up articles on social media to support or defend our opinions. I wish we could all be heralds of the truth.

3) I wish for us to awaken our consciences and innate goodness, to be able to determine right and wrong. Very often, we ignore our conscience to protect our egos and the choices we made. It is time to ask ourselves: Did we believe in extrajudicial killings, cruelty, cursing, demeaning women, lying and violence before we cast our votes in the May election? Can we admit that we made a mistake? Or have we chosen to ignore the inner voice that tells us when something has gone very wrong? We need to stop denying what our conscience tells us.

4) I wish for us to have courage and face our fears. We cannot retreat into our cocoons and ignore the evil forces that are shaping our world according to their own twisted ends. We cannot be complacent. We need to be committed and steadfast in fighting for what we think is true and right for our nation and the world. We must take the lead in protecting our world and not leave it to those who would, in their lust for power and greed, destroy what is good in it.

5) I wish for us to have the will and the stamina to address the environmental concerns plaguing the world. Scientists say that the earth will deteriorate drastically in the next 20 years. The seas will definitely rise a few meters and this will be disastrous to humankind. We are already seeing the weather patterns changing, to the detriment of masses of humanity. We had three Category 5 storms in the vicinity of our country this year. It is time to end our non-sustainable way of living. We must reawaken our respect for nature which we have set aside in our quest for material progress.

6) Lastly, I wish for everyone the peace that comes with humility, discernment, acceptance, hope, and the resolve to bring our world towards a higher evolutionary direction. It is my wish that we can inspire one another to transform ourselves so that we can transform the world.

Some people may find me too optimistic, a resident of La La Land, a certified Pollyanna. I know real change is difficult, but it must be pursued. We either succumb to inertia and fall backwards or push against it. During defining moments in history, it was the dreamers and doers who insisted on the direction where humanity must go. And most of the time, they were right.

The first Christmas happened at a time when the world was fraught with danger. Children were being killed en masse by an earthly king who feared the birth of the messiah whom the people awaited.

Christmas is a time to wish, to hope and work for a newer, kinder world to be born. Mankind has been celebrating Christmas for over 2,000 years. It’s time we took its message seriously.