A New Normal?

Young college boys in a face-to-face class in the seminary… Basketball being played as usual… A new normal?

Yes, but not because the pandemic caused by Covid-19 is about to end. No. It is the usual reminder that in the history of our Church this is normal. Yes. Although ours is a centuries-old Church, it is forever young! An understatement, of course.

The pandemic is now more than 2 years. Health protocols have been mostly in favor of the adults and the elderly. The children and the youth are almost left out in most of the health protocols. This is understandable. It is for the good of everyone including the children and the youth. So complaint is unnecessary.

But some of us adults and seniors are bored because of the changing quarantine health protocols. But we do have a solution. Who is “WE” and what is the Solution?

We call ourselves The Nanding Boys: a group of twelve Catholic laymen who are mostly businessmen except for one journalist. Nanding is a nickname of Fernando who is a retired but not a tired prelate. And their solution?

Chicka – Chicka!

Pinoy readers of Shalom know what this is. So we’ll not repeat what everyone knows except to mention EchoStore, the place where we meet, a unique store of organic pre-cuisine items, the only one of its kind in Davao City, owned and managed by Ms. Sarah Claudio, located near Mercury Drug store on Diversion Road in front of El Rio Vista Subdivision. To non-pinoys, this Pinoy-created word refers to a very informal gathering of friends where, while having lunch, they talk, often not too seriously, about just any topic under the sun; but most especially, about the pandemic that is causing the Seniors’ boredom. They are helped by Nanding’s assistants: Lou Q. Solijon from the Bishops-Ulama Conference; the other, Dr. Mary Grace Alestante, a medical doctor, from the Southern Philippines Medical Center. But how long will boredom continue? When will the new normal come? Good questions. So far there is no answer.