Hayyyy. Sanaol!
Sanaol. A three-syllable jargon that has made its way to our everyday conversations – it’s like a sigh but spelled out. Such expression may be used in different settings:
- A TV commercial shows a couple showing affection to each other, and some girls sigh “sanaol.”
- Celebrities flaunting their luxurious lifestyles and netizens flock the comment section with “sanaol.”
- People sharing their home buddies house improvement and friends are giddy enough to drop a “sanaol.”
Sanaol, an alternative spelling of “sana all” can be considered as a Filipino’s way of saying – ‘I wish for everyone’ (then insert thing, place, person, experience). It can be a sincere wish, a silly pun, a sarcastic utterance, a seething remark, or a subdued sigh.
A light expression, ‘sanaol’ may point us to deeper signs of discontentment in our lives.
I say ‘may’ and ‘perhaps’ because this may not always be the case – yung iba trip trip lang talaga,….. but also, who knows, right? Humans can be good at turning deep wounds into funny jokes. It is not surprising to know that everyday language can be a surface indicator of an inside malady – of envy and jealousy.
Jerry Bridges explains the difference of envy and jealousy in his book, Respectable Sins:
- ‘Envy is the painful and oftentimes resentful awareness of an advantage enjoyed by someone else. Sometimes we want that same advantage leading to the further sin of covetousness…Usually, there are two conditions that tempt us to envy. First, we tend to envy those with whom we most closely identify. Second, we tend to envy in them the areas we value most.’
- ‘Jealousy is usually defined as intolerance of rivalry… Sinful jealousy occurs…when we are afraid someone is going to become equal or even superior to us.’
In the age of social media, we may easily compare our lives with people’s highlight reels – an unhealthy way of looking at life. A constant scrolling leads to chronic coveting. It’s easy to say that our souls need conscious guarding, because we know such wanting can breed despair.
We may do well if we could be honest with ourselves and answer questions that could help us reflect:
- 1. Are you able to celebrate other people’s achievements and be sincerely happy for them?
- 2. Do you resent it when other people have an advantage over you?
- 3. How do your respond when you don’t get what you want, when things don’t go your way?
- 4. If someone does better than you or is more superior than you, how do you approach the person? Do you feel comfortable around them? or do you feel insecure?
What we are irritated about is usually things we care about. And these questions are not mere words that I leave with you,….these are questions I wrestle with alongside you.
May our sanaol’s be a genuine desire for our neighbor’s good.
May our sanaol’s be silent prayers of our wanting to our good God.
Sanaol! 🙂
Thinking Millennial 