COLONIAL MENTALITY PERVADES IN MOST NATIVES!!! :-(
Monday, September 13, 2010
Why Filipinos in general do not honor their heroes, asks Gemma Cruz Araneta as demonstrated by the defacement and vandalization of the statue of Marcelo H. del Pilar in Malate, Manila.
There are times when the Filipino character seems flawed when compared to those of other people - the disciplined Japanese, the industrious Chinese, the polite and well mannered British, the efficient Germans, the much less corrupt countries and so on.
I read a book titled "Vibora". It was about General Artemio Ricarte, who fought the Spaniards and later the Americans at the turn of the
20th century. General Ricarte observed that, Filipinos easily forget, readily forgive and conveniently collaborate with their occupiers to protect their interests.
Recently, I watched Anthony Bourdain, a television host for Food & Travel when he visited Manila, Pampanga and Cebu. His host in Cebu was Augusto. Augusto is a Filipino-American born and raised in New York City, had been to the Philippines only once before for a week. Augusto has a relative in Cebu knowlegeable about cooking - when asked by Bourdain "with so many Filipinos in the USA and worldwide - why is Filipino cuisine a blank." The relative answered "maybe because Filipinos easily accept and readily adapt to other cultures and cuisine." Augusto adds "Filipinos put other cultures before ours to facilitate assimilation in their new country" - madaling makisama. To which Bourdain responded "Filipinos are just darned nice" and looking at Augusto, a Filipino-American and his Chinese-American wife asked rhetorically, "who are you (Filipinos) - maybe you are, where your heart is".
Maybe our convictions are not as strong as it should be, our sense of history not as profound and our pride and love of country not as
binding as it ought to be. This appears to be a damning observation. I hope I am wrong. Maybe it is why Filipinos do not honor their
heroes as they ought to.
posted by ronjiedotcom @ 3:36 PM,
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