With ABP's yahoogroup's current membership now at 3078, messages posted in the forum have exceeded the 1000 mark for the month of December. This is the first time the discussion group has posted as many messages in a month.

It is equally noteworthy that with quantity comes maturity. In the three years that the forum has existed, there has been a marked improvement in the level of maturity of the discussions. That is precisely one of the points that ABP wanted to achieve right from the onset, that one of the changes that has to happen in us Pinoys is to raise the level of our discourses to a point where we can learn to accept that nobody has a monopoly of good ideas, much less good intentions, and that what is more important is not to focus on our own beliefs and agenda but to find out where our own ideas can possibly meet with others' so that we can create larger visions and greater synergies.  

This is an article that I wrote in 2006 but which was not shared to the Ang Bagong Pinoy community. I'm posting it here on the website as I'd like to share it this Christmas because I believe the messages are as relevant now as they were 2 years ago. [ Boogie ]

Merry Christmas to all!

At the height of the preparations for this Christmas season, a theme that somehow permeated the consciousness of a lot of Filipinos was the phrase "… tuloy pa din ang Pasko …" Apparently, the intention was to bolster the spirits of people and rally them to the idea that in spite of the hardships surrounding us and the recent tragedies that have befallen a lot of our countrymen; in spite of the hopelessness that pervades the air and the continuing exodus of talents for the proverbial greener pastures; in spite of our frustrations with institutions that have seemingly failed us instead of providing us the much-needed sense of security, hope, and direction; Christmas will push through and will weather all storms.

Of course, Christmas did push through and will always do! But the sad part of it all is that the thought even crossed our minds. It was like thinking that Christmas depended on us, or that it depended on our situation and the predicaments of our lives. The good news is that it does not! Christmas will always be Christmas no matter what stage or state of life we might find ourselves in. It is solely dependent on the reason for its being: the birth of Jesus Christ as a saving gesture of an infinitely loving God for a world embroiled in sin. That is what Christmas is all about and it can never be taken away from us.

Since the turn to the 21^st century, the United Nations has ranked Norway as the number one nation in the world in terms of human development. The Human Development Index (HDI) is based on wealth, life expectancy, education and other factors as human freedom, dignity and human agency, that is, the role of people in their development. Norway is also ranked as the second country in the world in giving per capita, as well as the primary country in sending the most missionaries per capita, which to me is the foremost indicator of a truly transformed nation!