Senator Francis "Kiko" Pangilinan's reflection as we bid farewell to 2020 and welcome 2021:

"As 2020 draws to a close, I am reminded of a touching scene in the Pixar movie 'Inside Out' and the various human emotions such as happiness/joy, sadness, anger, fear, and disgust that we all as human beings possess within us.

2020 brought us all a lot of sadness. We all aspire for happiness. We all wish for happiness for ourselves and our loved ones and understandably so.

The pivotal scene in the movie wherein the 11-year-old girl Riley decided to run away from her new home to return to Minnesota is quite enlightening.

Having boarded the bus bound for Minnesota, Riley was suddenly overwhelmed by sadness at the thought that she would be separated from her family, from her mom and dad. It was this feeling of sadness, of leaving her loved ones behind, that prompted her to change her mind about running away. Riley got off the bus and rushed back to her new home and into the loving embrace of Mom and Dad.

It was sadness that moved her to stay instead of run away. Without that sadness she would have left her loved ones behind.

As we aspire and hope for happiness this coming 2021, as we strive to embrace happiness in our lives wholeheartedly, in many instances embracing sadness too allows us to hold on to what we cherish the most. Sadness too has a meaningful and invaluable purpose in our journey called life.

Come 2021, may the whole array of our emotions allow us to experience greater meaning, purpose and value in our lives, in the lives of those who matter dearly to us and in the lives of others.

A meaningful and purposeful 2021 to us all and yes, a happy new year too!"