We have often heard how great other races are such as the Greeks, Romans, Germans, English and Americans. We have seen how proud their citizens are as they would fete their fellow citizens for every success they hurdle in various fields, be it in the art of war, Olympics, science and technology, inventions and others. We have also witnessed how national pride can bring a country to great heights.
Then we begin to ponder how as a people, we Filipinos, have lagged behind even in comparison to our neighbors? What really is lacking in us? We were first to be Christianized and a sizeable number of our countrymen embrace at least one world religion; first to experience self-government; first in agricultural development; first to demonstrate love for democracy and non-violent struggle, among the long list of firsts that we can truly be proud of.
The Filipino exemplifies the best and the worst, as it is a fact that wherever s/he goes outside of his own country, s/he excels and does wonderful jobs that even foreign employers recognize. And so it is such mind-boggling why in his/her own country, the Filipino could not be the best s/he can be?
It would probably require social scientists, even great psychologists to explain this phenomenon. But some thoughts would point to culture as the biggest culprit. For many, a strong culture is probably the most influential factor in the success or failure of an organization or people. Because our culture does not tend to celebrate greatness, we instead commemorate historical failures and downturns – Fall of Bataan, Death March, death of heroes, etc., there has become a subliminal effect of feeling of failures.
In effect, we fail to celebrate the greatness of the Filipino. We lose sight of the fact that we are not an ordinary race whose struggle for democracy, development and national identity is as colorful as his /her country’s history.
The state of mind defines the character of a person, so does a people’s character. The national psyche should be refocused in celebrating our excellence as a people and as individuals. In this way, we begin to re-examine ourselves and see how our successes can be replicated over and over again so that the values that we wish to impart to the next generation will bring about a culture of excellence, a quest for what is positive and productive, a march towards national identity; building a country that has lagged behind for many years.
The challenge will always be how to celebrate in the midst of crises? About thirty percent of our people wallow in poverty. At least four million children cannot attend basic education, and about half of them are engaged in work which otherwise should have been the role of their parents or elders. Our public educational system is in disarray, and even our graduates can hardly meet the demands of the workplace resulting to a mismatch between education and industry which explains why we have so many graduates who are either jobless, under-employed or in the call centers despite the fact that their educational preparations are not related to their current jobs.
Every day, a number of Filipinos leave their country for jobs abroad with high hopes of finding greener pastures to sustain the needs of the families they left behind. The social costs of separations among families is so high that despite interventions from both government and non-government organizations, the number of wayward youths increase every day, ranging from teenage pregnancy, to drug and alcohol dependency and juvenile delinquency.
Corruption in high places is so rampant, no one seems to be proud of the way government is run in this country. And we keep asking ourselves, where are the values our forefathers taught us?
Our distinct failure however is seeing the best in us through all these unpleasant realities that we get stuck in them. We balk at the idea of reexamining and redeeming ourselves from those maladies because we hesitate to be positive and hope for what will be best if we commit to take a bolder step towards achieving change.
Arguably, the innate character of the Filipino is goodness, hospitality and love for democracy. Every day, we see ordinary folks going about their usual work to sustain their lives and that of their families. Farmers wake up early in the morning to plow the fields and provide us food. Drivers would rise early to ply their routes to bring commuters to their worksites. Students struggle to beat the traffic to attend classes, and vendors would be at their posts just in time for people who will buy their food and other needs. Teachers would not mind the measly pay for as long as they can help shape young minds so this country’s future will be secured.
These are the small things we overlook, that excellence committed on a smaller scale or level is left unsung and unappreciated. We are so focused on the bigness or greatness of an achievement that it really becomes too difficult for ordinary people to identify with the so-called “great heroes” for even in school we were taught that they were almost perfect and god-like, when in fact they were not. They were just as ordinary as any Filipino can be, the only difference is that they excelled in their own commitment that brought about great impact on their people’s life and history.
Celebrating excellence therefore entails recognizing and promoting every achievement worth emulating because achievements no matter how small, when pooled together, builds and strengthens a nation.
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