A Nation that goes Beyond the Usual

Friday, 16 December 2011 01:13

Written by Aaron Benedict De Leon

The Philippines has seen its ups and downs the past year, as various political, social, entertainment and even sports events have occupied the attention of a nation looking for hope during turbulent times. The year that has been has never lacked the drama and flare that Filipinos have been accustomed to seeing or watching. The battles between the Arroyo’s and the Aquino’s, Manny Pacquiao’s numerous challenges in the ring, the battle of showbiz couples to stay together and against the social media backlash, and a people looking to win their war against poverty.

Historically speaking, we’ve won and endured so many battles as a nation, from the early resistance we offered against Spanish colonizers, to the small revolts which were staged during the early Spanish occupation, the revolution that sent away the Spanish regime for almost 3 centuries, the wars we have launched against the U.S and Japan, and our victory against the dictatorship. The Filipino has been tested by time and by experience, to experience hardship, and later on, to overcome it.

However, in this day and age, the complexity of the issues that face us today do not only have a political and social dimension, but it also a battle within us, with our desire to change the way things are ran versus our pre-conceived values and customs influenced by our predecessors.

Let’s face it- our desire to change our fate is not proportional to the way we should be doing things in order to achieve that. We desire change, yet we make use of outmoded strategies and solutions to topple the evolving challenges that face us today. We try to combat poverty, for example, by depending on government’s capacity to deliver utmost assistance to us, where in fact, the government is fiscally challenged and its bureaucracy tolerate abuse and corruption. We want change, yet the personalities we embrace are products of the tradition we resist. We want our sports icons to succeed everytime, yet our support seems to be as seasonal as the Philippine holidays are celebrated.

History is not against our desire, but our attitudes do pose the greatest barrier and conflict towards our desired state.

We are on the verge of change, yet what is our excuse for failing?

“Nakasanayan na po kasi, at ito na ang nakagawian…”

Ladies and gentlemen, the world is rapidly moving and changing, and so are the challenges that we face today. If we expect the Philippines to survive simply with our kind nature and with our history of political triumphs, then we are heading towards the wrong direction. The country will continue to linger in the doldrums of Asia.

We must have the ability re-create and re-invent our Filipinoism, and we must redefine our nationalism, not solely based on the premise that we are nationalistic because we memorize the Panatang Makabayan and the Lupang Hinirang word per word, but graduating to a level where we become contributors to the nation’s cultural and economic wealth, both on an obligatory and voluntary platform. We have to support an advocacy, not just through words, but through actions. And let us not confuse advocacy with partisanship, because advocacies are made to be accepted by most, if not all ideologies.

We must leverage on our strengths as a nation, our hospitable nature, and use it to spur investments. Our greatest asset is our human capital, thus our focus is to make the human capital competent through continuous education. Our workforce is laden with skills unmatched by other nationalities, thus we must not place a low ceiling with the way we bargain for wages and salaries abroad. Our local industries are the most creative, and even with the absence of government support, our locals have the capacity to make these industries boom by supporting and buying our very own goods and services.

We must take away the faces on issues, and make decisions based on merit, and not on personality. Let us not patronize celebrities who live hideous lives killing babies and committing adultery. Let us not support public officials who try to gain political capital at the expense of dehumanizing their political rivals. Objectivity is wanting and crucial during these times, and our open mindedness must not betray us in these situations.

We have proven time and again, that we are a nation of winners. Yet, we became winners because of our ability to re-discover what our strengths are, and our ability to maximize the opportunities and technology we are accorded with,

We will go beneath and beyond the usual, because we are Filipinos, and we have conquered the world with our talent and love for country and humanity.