Filipino Soul, Part II: The Invisible Beast

This is follow-up to the prior blog about Filipinos "missing the delta drive".

I feel like I am wrestling with an invisible beast on this subject, one that is real, but I can't exactly define it.

Nevertheless, I've got the spray paint can out aimed at the disturbance, hoping to get some clarity.

Some who commented on the prior article made the observation that it is hard for Filipinos to be inspired about their work because they don't earn much. So they don't put much into it. This translates into an inherent laziness and restrains ambition.

I accept that as legitimate rationale for the laboring class not to do any more than is necessary, for when they are laboring, they are sweating aplenty. But that does not explain the shortcomings of professional, business and government workers.

Now for them, the lack of motivation may be the lack of upside growth. Like raises and promotions. I've written about the need for Fair Employment laws to put such achievement rewards into the system. You know, look for ways to root cheating and favors out of the system and replace them with rewards for productivity.

I'm not so sure that is really the answer though, to explain the lack of "delta drive".

In my article, I addressed "soul" because I think the trait, or more accurately, what is missing, seems deeper than the laziness that comes with hard work attached to little reward. It is a vacancy at the core, a missing personal inspiration, a missing personal passion, a failure to be able to connect dots . . . with emotional commitment . . . a failure to say, in the private place that belongs to no one but ourselves,  "I know that giving to the community is in MY best interest".

Filipinos define patriotism in a shallow way, as waving a flag or cheering a boxer or marching militaristically to the National Anthem. Most are missing the deeper desire to make the country whole through daily acts, like disposing of trash properly or being courteous to other Filipinos. It is not thoughtlessness. It is blindness. It is a missing emotion, a missing commitment to SELF through the well-being of the community.

 I fault educators for neglecting to teach aspiration, courtesy and sacrifice as important disciplines. But then educators seem also to be missing the delta drive, the ability to focus on what would make a difference to their community. They teach the same things that were taught years ago. They appear never to have a brainstorming session that asks, "how can we make the Philippines a better place through what and how we teach?" They don't have a passion to make the nation better. They just do what they do, and have done for years.

It is not neglect. It possibly isn't really ignorance. It is simply an emotion and a commitment that is not there, or is drowned out by low self-esteem and the relentless excuse-mongering and seeing of things upside down (seeing ambition or generosity as signs of weakness). It is not laziness, really. It is a missing emotion: "I feel good helping make things better . . ."

The delta drive is passion for the well-being of all of us.

It is deep, it is personal.

It is missing, here, in the Philippines.