Prudence and Madness

I never thought I’d be asked and I’d be answering this meme, “3 Reasons Why It Feels Great to be Pinoy”. To think that, almost everyday of our lives, we come up with reasons to put Filipinos down, from the worst traffic in EDSA to the red tape in government. At first I thought it would have been easier if the question was “3 Reasons Why Being Filipino Sucks”. That’s a pessimist for you. But lately I’ve learned I must look on the brighter side of things more often (because I’m getting older). No use living life down and out.

So, thanks for the tag, Jhay of The Four-eyed Journal and Beejing of Get a Life! This is my chance to meditate on the why I should feel great being Filipino.

Three Reasons Why It Feels Great To Be Pinoy

1) We tend to be more compassionate and loving towards our elderly than our Western brothers. This is true. We live as extended families: mother, father, the in-laws, siblings, nieces and nephews, grandparents, and the househelp all in the same house. We just don’t seem to entertain the idea that we’ll let our old parents or grandparents live on their own in a house where nobody can take care of their needs. More often than not, we’d rather invite them to our own home, suffer the extra hungry mouths to feed and to take care of and the occasional (or frequent) fights with the spouse or the in-laws regarding them, than to spend countless nights thinking if they’re all right living alone in the house, if they’ve eaten well, or if the house is still intact and not burned down to the ground because Grandpa forgot to turn off the stove or put out the candle. To leave our old parents under the care of nursing homes is not an idea we entertain. For as long as we have the means and the energy, we’d rather take care of them rather than pay strangers to take care of them for us.

This is often not the case in the West. At the age of eighteen, the young adult leaves home, work on one, two, or three jobs, earning money so that he could study, and settle on his own, single or married. What happens to his parents? Parents, finding the nest empty because all of their sons/daughters have already fled, live out their lives as if they never had children at all. Kids aren’t expected that they ought to care for their parents. When they get too old to take care of themselves, either they enroll themselves in nursing homes or the kids do it for them.

I do not criticize Westerners for doing such things. It’s their culture and it’s their way of life. But it’s not something that I think I’d do. I’d rather take care of my own folks, be it that they drive me crazy most of the time. And I don’t expect my future kids to be taking care of me when I grow old. But it would be an easier and happier life if I were to grow old with all my little grandchildren around me than spending it in a nursing home.

2) We are a poor country, but still we can smile. We may be poor, unlike our Asian neighbors like Singapore and Japan. But, at least, despite the poverty, we remain, generally, a happy people. Unlike those rich countries, where people can spend all they want for what they want and still they feel unhappy and depressed. I think this trait of the Filipinos is a measure of strength, as long as we don’t overdo it. How to overdo it? Lose your job and get drunk every afternoon and every night while your children starve. I’ve seen some folks like that here in my town. I see that their houses are almost in shambles, and yet they spend every afternoon out of their little shanties, their rickety table spread out with bottles and bottles of gin and pulutan, which I don’t know how they were able to acquire since they are jobless, and laughing and cajoling with their drunken friends while their poor wives are at wits’ end trying to find food for the kids. But I hope they’re just a minority. I still want to believe that majority of our people are hardworking despite being poor.

3) We can be transplanted anywhere without losing our Pinoy identity. How do I know? Plant a pinoy in the United States and after some time, you’ll see that pinoy happily living, comfortable with eating Uncle Sam’s food or donning the American accent to fit in his surroundings. And yet when he’s in his own clique of kapwa pinoys, he’s still the same Pedro who left the Philippines. Plant a pinoy in Germany and he’d soon look, talk, and walk like a German (or close enough to be able to blend in). Yet when he comes home, he’d still be cooking his adobo. My point is, when we do leave our country and get to live somewhere, we may undergo changes because we have to survive in that place but still, we keep in ourselves our distinct Pinoy traits.

Ten people I’m tagging to do this meme:

Ann of Fighting Gravity

Bluepanjeet of On The Wings Of My Dreams

Benj of Atheista

L.A. of Artworks | Blog of An Uber Virgin Queer

Poell of Nestle Poell’s Recipe For a Chocolatey Life

Ade of Noisy, Noisy Man | Your Daily Dose of Retard

Yna of XXX - Your Daily Dose of Porn

Paolo of The Philosophical Bastard

Maki of noneed4ink

JJ of Unsent: Notes To and From My Former Self