Sowing Myths
Filipinos love to sow myths. They repeat what their parents tell them and what they hear from their friends, who heard theirs from their parents. Filipinos seldom read books. They are still an oral people as they have been since time began. Their knowledge of their world does not come from beyond their shores and their minds. They love to discuss among themselves in internet forums that are now as inbred as the myths they sow. Strange as it may seem, they soon accept these myths as bible truths and educated statements from their "betters", that is to say, those who love to add alphabet-soup-letters after their names, such as M.A., Ph.D., MBA, etc.. When these "betters" address each other respectfully in their honorific titles I am reminded of the slaves who addressed their Massas, their Bwanas, their Memsahibs and their Senor Dons while groveling on the ground. Their masters have left long since but their tiny minds remain imprisoned by fear and awe of the titled person.
Here's one MYTH that many of us repeat among ourselves and plant in our children's minds:
"But that wouldn't be so bad, if like many of our neighbors in Asia, we Filipinos could hark back to a glorious historic past, as did the Japanese, the Chinese, the Koreans, the Thais, the Singaporeans, the Malaysians. They DREW tremendous strength FROM their rich civilizations, in many instances superior to those of their Western colonizers." - Teodoro C. Benigno
Here's the TRUTH about a world-renowned Japanese writer who won the 1994 literature Nobel Prize:
"After his father's death during the war, his mother took over his father's role as educator. The books she bought him - The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Strange Adventures of Nils Holgersson - have left him with an impression he says "he will carry to the grave".
"So strong was his desire for [American]democracy that he decided to leave for Tokyo; leave the village of his forefathers, the life they had lived and preserved, out of sheer belief that the city offered him an opportunity to knock on the door of democracy, the door that would lead him to a future of freedom on paths that stretched out to the world."
"At the age of eighteen, Kenzaburo Oe (1935-) made his first long train trip to Tokyo, and in the following year enrolled in the Department of French Literature at Tokyo University where he received instruction under the tutelage of Professor Kazuo Watanabe, a specialist on Francois Rabelais."
"Watanabe's thoughts on humanism, which he arrived at from his study of the French Renaissance, helped shape Oe's fundamental view of society and the human condition. An avid reader of contemporary French and American literature, Oe viewed the social condition of the metropolis in light of the works he read."
"Oe started writing in 1957, while still a French literature student at the university. Apparent in these works are strong influences of Jean-Paul Sartre and other modern French writers."
"Oe's winning the Nobel Prize for 1994 has thus encouraged him to embark on his pursuit of a new form of literature and a new life for himself.**
Does any one of us care to stop our incestuous MYTHS from spreading and help disseminate the TRUTH that can only be learned by reading? When can we become EDUCATED people like the Japanese who spend their lives imbibing great ideas from the great thinkers of the whole world, improving upon them and regurgitating them to humanity dressed in Japanese kimonos?
We have a long, long way to go to become educated people. I had a neighbor
in Mayhaligue whose parents addressed him as "Attorney Santos." His mother would approach him at his desk in the house and ask, "Gusto mo na bang kumain, Attorney Santos? That was 60-some years ago. We still do it today. While we worship education in others who are more than willing to wave their diplomas in front of our noses, we do not seek it for ourselves. We are just too happy spreading the MYTHS we hear from our friends.
_____________**the quotes about Kenzaburo Oe were copied from his biography published in the Nobel Prize online website.