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| Reference Material |
| In between groundhog days http://paseoblur.blogspot.com/2006_03_01_paseoblur_archive.html March 13, 2006 Currently reading a book on Horacio De la Costa. Fr. De La Costa, SJ is an extraordinary man, "a dedicated priest-scholar", essayist, lecturer, first Filipino Provincial of the Philippine Province in 1964, a special Counselor to Fr. General Pedro Arrupe in Rome. The book, a collection of essays by Fr. De La Costa, has for its theme The Filipino and His Problems Today. The essays I've read so far were written sometime in the 1970s and they are still as refreshing a read as they were thirty years ago. Kudos therefore to Fr. De La Costa (who died in the late 1970s) and his skills and insightfulness as a writer. Jeers to us a people for not having moved beyond the problems and issues of three decades ago. We are still in search of a national identity, we still bafflingly equate nationalism with anti-Americanism and isolationism, and we still have to grapple with the paradoxical but inescapable truth that freer trade leads to social justice and equality but at the same time must be conducted with such in mind. We've had Quezon, Roxas, Marcos, and Ramos. We've had Recto, Salas, Romulo, Ople, Bengzon, Feliciano. We do not lack for talent. However, as I was discussing with friends of mine over drinks during the weekend, if there is a movie to be made about the Philippines the title would have to be "Tinimibang Ka Ngunit Kulang". We have always been given the opportunity, a chance to show what we're made of, and we always seem to fall short. Battling the Spaniards for Manila, Biak-na-Bato, battling the Spaniards alongside the Americans for Manila, Martial Law, Edsa 1 and 2. Chances all and all lost. Heraclitus once said that "character is destiny". We are most likely in this rut because our character dictated it so. I've had enough of pundits who write endlessly about what needs to be done for this country. Everybody knows in his heart what has to be done. The question is if we have the stomach for it. We are too self-indulgent, too forgiving of offenses done to us, too quick to allow others to put one up over us, too content or laidback to have the obsession needed to do whatever it takes to nail down an objective, and too quick to sacrifice the good of the nation for shallow compassion for individuals. The last two are particularly important to remember. People have to understand that if you want change, someone will get hurt, will have to get hurt. There is simply no revolution where everybody ends up fine. Look at EDSA 1, where the people we kicked out ended up as godparents for our weddings or baptisms, their children celebrities, and now are national and provincial leaders, wealthy and happy. We like that, of not having taken the responsibility of putting down those that have to be put down. But 20 years after EDSA and where are we? Problem is and understandably, the people who will get hurt are our friends, family, employers, teachers. However, if we did what we had to do we would not have been unique in that regard: the Americans who fought the British, the Indians who fought them too, all had friends within the very group they were fighting but they acknowledged that painful as it may be it had to be done. We don't seem to get that concept, to get what we want, to be the people that we want, things have to be done and they are not all pleasant. Which leads to another problem aside from holding other people accountable and that is the lack or absence of self-accountability. We should stop blaming others for this rut, stop blaming the Americans, stop blaming the WTO, stop blaming our leaders, stop blaming the oligarchs, stop blaming the military or the communists. We should blame ourselves. In the end, it all boils down to us, as individuals. To paraphrase a prayer said during Mass, we are to blame "for all that we've done and all that we failed to do". We shouldn't stop at blaming the Americans for having out-negotiated us or outplayed us, the WTO for our appalling lack of homework, our leaders for our electing them there or allowing them to cheat us to get where they are, or the oligarchs for our continued patronage of their products and their existence. We - individually - are mostly to blame. And we, the privileged class comfortable enough to read and write blogs, are to blame for the masses not having understood or having not learned. I am tired of people saying that if you take out the ruling elite then this country will go down the drain, as the masses can't be expected to do the job. That is President Arroyo's argument as well, pertaining to herself, and they're both despicable. First of all, its the ruling elite that got us in this mess and second I can't understand how one can think so low of his or her fellow Filipinos. In any event, for all the ills of this country, we have ourselves primarily to blame. The solution is there, within our grasp. However, like anything that has to be solved or undertaken, we first have to acknowledge the problem, not to be resigned, not to give ourselves excuses, but simply to acknowledge what needs to be overcome. And what needs to be overcome is our own character. After that, we can move on to developing it, refining it, and maturing it. The Romans have a saying: vincit que se vincit (he conquers who conquers himself). We take baby steps individually: work hard, be on time, be organized, uphold personal discipline, love your craft or profession, be honest when nobody is looking, follow rules even when we're alone, be courteous, refuse to bribe officials, learn to debate and take criticism without getting emotional, be prudent in dress and food, waste nothing, learn restraint, control the need for immediate gratification, reward merit, encourage talent, deal with failure with dignity, hold people accountable for their actions, don't give in to luxury, continue learning, read, stand when the national anthem is being played, learn our history, speak good of our country, never accept that citizens of other countries and other cultures are better than ours (although, of course, there are always things to learn from others in the same way they can learn from us), and start thinking that we individually are the Philippines and that each aspect of the Philippines, its land, people (the poor, the rich, the OFWs), culture (diverse as it may be), and history is us as well. Baby steps, nothing spectacular, nothing showy, nothing to brag about in parties, nothing as glamorous as rallying or writing newspaper articles on PP1017 or good governance. Just doing what has to be done. How can one think of social upheavals if one can't do the little things well? Revolutions may come, upheavals may happen, but lets be ready, as a people and as individuals, to do what has to be done the next time around, even though it may be painful or cause pain. Otherwise, this mess we keep getting ourselves into will just keep happening again and again. But for the moment, perhaps, just perhaps, what's required of us right now are the little things and that we do them well. **** |