Of our ‘frail thread’ to the past; thread-bare future?

Of our ‘frail thread’ to the past; thread-bare future?

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The Philippines is an archipelago of more than 7,000 islands. Our now-about 90 million population strewn all over these emerald isles and blue seas has become social networking-crazy, and therefore earning for the country the dubious distinction of being the “Facebook Capital of the World.” But as our venerable Juan L. Mercado (Viewpoint) has pointed out, we have a “Frail thread” to our past–which may indicate a general breakdown of our educational system; or a subversion of our cultural heritage (by the relentless changes stemming from modern technology); probably both.

As Viewpoint emphasizes with a quote of the late Horacio de la Costa, S.J., “…we have no very deep or sharply defined consciousness of how tremendously rich and varied our culture is….” Combined with our poor economic status as a still-developing country, our disaffected demeanor, our endless conflicts (including rebellions and separatist movements), our escalating crime rates and the unabated, spreading cancer of graft and corruption–thusly we have a recipe for national disaster; punctuated every now and then by natural calamities.

Our political leaderships–national and local–have had varied success in trying to turn the tide of cyclical downturns. It seems more like a fluctuating state of controlled panic and desperate measures, interspersed with moments of clarity and purpose. And then the very next emergency flushes everything down the toilet. As pundits like to point out–“we deserve (having) our leaders”–perhaps largely because we’d rather go down the path of less resistance (the easy way), rather than take to the high but rigorous road of our unfolding future. Our schemes and dreams are unraveling at almost every turn; our fractiousness as a nation–perhaps engendered by the archipelagic character of our country–is turning our consciousness as Filipinos as tenuously unified as the waters that connect our islands together.

Our maritime tradition is today symbolized by our contract-worker seamen–OFWs–and our hospitable and caring nature is characterized by our having many domestic helpers (DHs) abroad. Because we cannot pull in enough dollars into our country (via foreign investments), we go out in search of it. Many of our local businesses cannot even meet the minimum daily wage rates for employees. Our modern heroes (“mga bagong bayani”) are anywhere but here among us; and unfortunately, like the fate of many heroes, they even die on strange lands.

But even as we hit rock-bottom, we are blessed with singular victories and distinctions–Manny Pacquiao; Charice Pempengco; and most recently, Jessica Sanchez of American Idol fame. They are our inspirations, affirming the belief that Filipinos are a talented lot. And yet, we remain poor and marginalized. Such a dichotomy is lost upon us, however, because most of our people also believe that being poor and miserable is as inescapable as the characteristic talents that are inherent in us. Even those who are wealthy naturally believe that proposition to be true, and that they are the exceptions, which is their basis to rule over the hoi polloi that, in turn, also reinforce even further the opposite of what Jose Rizal suggested: there are no masters where there are no slaves.

What are we supposed to do in the face of such seemingly insurmountable problems and intractable issues? Is looking to our past–to rediscover who we really are–going to help? Yes–but only if we can look at it like a mirror: seeing everything as it really was, and not as how we like it to be. To admit to our many mistakes, and firmly resolve to correct it, to act together as required–not as may be expedient and advantageous only to the privileged few. If we are to row our ship of State into safe harbor, we have to get our acts together. Otherwise, we shall yet flounder again and again.

This is nothing new, and yet it never gets old–because it’s never done. We simply agree–and then go our separate ways. When we get hit by something that reminds us of what we should be doing, again we do the familiar dance around the issue or problem… and then we get tired of it and retreat to whatever it was we were doing before. Our preoccupation with doing small things never allows us to think and act big. We are masters of the pitchi-pitchi and the kanya-kanya. And we are prisoners of our own making–inside our own myopia, shortcomings, and timidity. We may have many talents, but they only serve as an attractive distraction, a temporary respite from the realities of our daily life which are perhaps too difficult to overcome, simply because such difficulties ultimately define who we are….


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