The Strength Within

Stick with me if you can. This one's a ride. Ideas grow where you plant them and propagate in an organized random way.

Doing this blogging bit is a little like stuffing a plant into the fine red Philippine soil. You plant one idea and before you know it, you've got another plant poking up over there. And one over here, too.

Things propagate easily here, whether they be babies or banana trees. I once asked my agriculturally endowed sister what the definition of a "weed" is.

She said "a rose in the cornfield is a weed".

Well, we have weeds and we have roses here, and they all grow like gangbusters. I had to take out all the ferns because the spores were flying through the air like so many invisible locusts attacking the Kansas cornfields, producing hives on my wife and incessant coughing from me and junior.

I've come to the conclusion recently that Filipinos are not very introspective in a proactive way. They are introspective in a negative way.

It's that matter of face again, or thin skin. And cultural values shaped by those political Catholics in their doctrinal house of cards who would suggest psychiatry is a sin. Just turn to Jesus. Or Mary. Or God.

Anywhere but knowledge.

I like President Aquino because he is an inward guy. Reflective. Thoughtful. He allows humility to rise up in a genuine way, rather than arrogance. His arrogance is actually determination, an insistence on staying the course, no matter the criticisms that surround him.

And boy do Filipinos do criticisms well. It is all a part of the interpersonal win/lose battles taking place in any interpersonal interaction.  People here do naturally what shrinks try desperately to get people to stop doing.

Judging themselves based on how others respond.

"No no no Jose", says the shrink.  "Others respond differently because they walk in their own environmental and emotional bubbles. They are not in your bubble. They have reasons for reacting as they do. Legitimate reasons. Respect them and their bubbles. Popping them just gets messy."

But here, there seems to be a need to pop bubbles, to dominate. To win the argument. To cut down the opponent. To triumph. To demand that he walk in the same bubble.

Which of course is fruitless and fills the nation with acrimony and envy and bullets.

That's why President Aquino is an exception. He can walk away from a needless argument. He walks more like Jesus than the political priests of the CBCP for sure.

I'm guessing the Philippines is the orphan kid who was whacked upside the head too many times from his overbearing colonial parent. Filipinos took to heart the shouting and insults and demands and started figuring they don't measure up.

So, like the 8th kid among 12, one tends to over-reach to try prove one is worth something.

I'm thinking that President Aquino is injecting a healthy dose of self-esteem among Filipinos and THAT more than jailing President Arroyo will be his lasting legacy.

I praised President Aquino in a Rappler discussion thread and another commenter called me a "yellow general".

So there you go. Give the Filipino a choice of building his nation or tearing it down, way too many will choose tearing it down. Because then THEY can feel good that they won the argument by demolishing someone. 

Just like that colonial papa did to them and their self-esteem.

Living the cycle. Just like in a family.

Brutality begets brutality. Kindness begets kindness. Ignorance begets ignorance.

Except for those few who find a way out.

I rather think those who find a way out do naturally, without psychiatric intervention, that which is healthy.

They grant others the right to be themselves. They accept responsibility for their own choices. They recognize the value of knowledge and the fruitlessness of superstition. They see the importance of trust and the damage of betrayal. They know the community is important: the family, the neighborhood, the city, the province, the nation, the earth. The community is the platform for safety and health and convenience, if it is done right. From looking at the importance of community, they learn to give of themselves to others.

No where in that paragraph is there a need to prove oneself a winner, or to tear someone else down to avoid being a loser.

The look within can occur without thought, I  think.

Rather like prayer. I believe you can get right with God in a wordless burst of emotive energy.

Those who do think about it can certainly help this healthy progression.

That's the press and the bloggers and the politicians and the leaders. You notice I distinguish between a politician and a leader. Their drivers differ.

All that these opinion makers need to do is come to the honest, unspoken, soul-felt realization that the Philippines is rich with resources and potential and is a place to cherish, not condemn. It will recast their whole approach to information and leadership.

Enough digging and throwing of dirt. Up with planting and building and respecting others. Enough of the winning and losing, as if life were games rather than serious business. Up with laughter and humility and honor and the values that lift, rather than crush.

Philippine resources are the people of good will and honorable intent, intelligent people with love and generosity in their hearts, land that grows green and abundant,  seas that reflect eternity and everlasting hope in the endless patterns and poundings.

I tell, you folks, if you would just look within, yourself, privately, and forget what everyone else is shouting, you'll find a very simple truth.

It's good to be Filipino.