The outpouring of help not only from the rest of Cebu and the Visayas but also from Mindanao and Luzon is great news. The devastating earthquake challenged our bayanihan spirit and we did not disappoint. The quake proved this cultural trait to be very much alive and now part of the ongoing solution to the survival problems of quake victims.
The bad news is another cultural trait negatively impacted our bayanihan spirit. Our lack of discipline, born of a culturally subconscious desire to be first to get anywhere has clogged up the roads, thus delaying deliveries of food, water and other essentials to survivors who are hungry and still dazed and scared by aftershocks.
It would seem that Philippine society has somehow managed to create a people who like to be first and get ahead of others. Notice how we like to crowd the entrances and exits of planes, ships, and buses. In stores and government offices, we like to be served first often forgetting unwritten rules of politeness and consideration for others. We hate lining up for anything and in traffic we do not merge alternately, not spontaneously anyway, when a two-lane road narrows into one.
Digging deep into the psychology of our lack of discipline one finds another negative cultural trait, the need for affirmation of something good we have done or achieved. Thus we trooped to the quake site lugging cellphones and GoPros for photos that are of no help really to the survivors but merely affirm the good deed of the aider. This explains why we place paid advertisements in newspapers of our children’s graduation and the awards they get. I could be wrong but only in the Philippines do parents post on the outer walls of the house the professions of their children.
But what takes the cake, the worst form of affirmation, is the way senators, congressmen, Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) officials, and contractors flaunt riches that they acquire in shamelessly corrupt means. It was in fact the way they flaunted their wealth that led to the discovery of the corrupt way they acquired it. It was a shameless thing to do that is matched only by the shamelessness with which they are now trying to wiggle out of an outraged people’s demand for accountability.
Bad times more than good accurately mirror to us the kind of people we are. They bring out the best in some, the worst in others and both best and worst in still others. We should continue with the good we see in the mirror on the inner wall of our being. But more important is that families, Churches and schools do something to erase negative cultural traits that diminish our capacity to cope with negative life-events.
Culture is a people’s way of coping with everyday life-challenges. Bayanihan is one admirable coping mechanism and should be promoted. On the other hand, lack of discipline and the obsessive need for affirmation are cultural traits that create more problems than they solve (if at all they do) and must somehow be stricken out of our cultural identity. As a fellow columnist recently called out, some things have to change.