Aliviado: A New Filipino Trait

WHAt can we say about crab mentality, ningas cogon, bahala na, procrastination and colonial mentality? These are obviously some of our negative traits as Filipinos, and from the looks of it, we are beginning to be quite known for these in the international community.

We can say that we are affected by the three centuries of Spanish rule, 40years of American colonization and four years of Japanese occupation. Yet the big question is what we have done to turn the negative experiences of the past into something beneficial for us and the country. I believe that our Asian neighbors who before we considered laggard in their economies have learned to collectively owe up their past mistakes and use them to drive themselves forward to what they accomplish now. From being number two in the economy we are now almost at the bottom pit among other Asian countries. Before, foreigners used to call the country of China as the “Sick man of Asia.” Let us hope that we will not be the recipient of this moniker considering the present malaise of our beloved country.

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I believe that many, if not all of us, have developed a new negative trait that certainly identifies us as Filipinos. That is, we are prone to knee-jerk reaction. Simply speaking, it is the impulsive response to an unwanted situation. We tend to respond to situations rather than making precautionary steps to arrest an impending tragedy.

It is the reason why after bombings the police are sent to man and to secure the premises, rather than having units stationed at their areas all the time. It is the reason why our drainage system is being worked on and still on renovation until today after the big floods, rather than doing the repairs beforehand. It is the reason why we make hasty generalizations and judgments that are also prone to more mistakes, rather than thinking seriously the integrity and validity on the issues that affects us nowadays.

It is the reason why we thought of saving and protecting the rest of the rivers in this country after witnessing the biological death of some river systems, rather than taking preventive steps to ensure that all of their lasting pristine beauty and biological inhabitancy will continue. It is the reason why there is so much political mud raking this campaign season when issues and concerns should have been investigated and taken care of long before the campaign started.

This is a tall order for all of us to roll up our sleeves and start from ourselves the reformation to unbind us from knee-jerk reactions. Let us not waste our hope to our leaders who are oftentimes concerned only for themselves. Let us start from our families, from our society, from our work and from our local community. We need to start thinking two steps ahead of any situation so that we can be prepared for any eventuality.

For instance, we embrace the Internet, yet we have not thought of the possible danger of information accessibility, especially on the violent and pornographic sites; so the least we can do now is to educate the young generation of the proper use of this medium and have the Internet cafes install firewall to prevent anybody from going to these particular websites. I am not advocating being paranoid always, since paranoia is commonly associated with baseless presumptions. The world is always changing, and it is imperative that we must adapt to this change, yet taking note to retain the positive aspects of our traits and culture. And that change starts in us. (Comments? Send at jaliviado2001@yahoo.com)