What does it mean to be Filipino?

As a poor kid, I studied in a public elementary school and grew up learning the exploits of Jose Rizal, Andres Bonifacio, Gabriela Silang and Ramon Magsaysay. We had no library, but through the tutelage of my good and committed teachers, I learned there lived Filipino men and women highly deserving to be exemplars of greatness.

We are proud to be Filipino because, at one point in our history as a nation, the likes of Melchora Aquino, Juan Luna, Marcelo H. del Pilar, Diego Silang, Padre Gomez, Burgos and Zamora, Claro M. Recto, Sultan Kudarat, Gregorio del Pilar, Francisco Baltazar, Jose Abad Santos, Benigno Aquino Jr., Jose Garcia Villa and Nick Joaquin walked upon this noble land.

I mention these men and women of honor in order to emphasize the fundamental contrast between love of country and the kind of narcissism influenced by today’s modern technology, one often highlighted by a list of the “richest people,” “richest athletes,” “most popular celebrities” and “most influential personalities.”

A child’s mind is fertile ground that needs to be nurtured. At the same time, this young mind must be freed from poisonous weeds, the likes of which we often find on TV, in glossy magazines and the halls of Congress.

There is a bigger universe out there that the young minds of our children must explore—J.R.R. Tolkien, Abraham Lincoln, John Rawls, Pope John Paul II, J.D. Salinger, Charles Dickens, Winston Churchill and Bertrand Russell, to mention a few.

Everything is wrong when a child begins to dream that he or she will become the next big thing in show biz. Success through talent is not an exact science. Instead of spending time on television, the microphone or with boxing gloves, children must read books and more books.

Imagine a world where a Filipino achieves the feat of a Bill Gates or a Steve Jobs. Imagine the billions of dollars an innovative idea would inject into the Philippine economy. And imagine a country like the Philippines exporting Maseratis and AH-64A/D Apache attack helicopters instead of bananas and pineapples.

Our country, more often than not, reports a different story. Very recently, an overseas Filipino worker jumped from her employer’s apartment to escape. When news about this incident spread, donations poured in, including scholarships for her children. Should all OFWs suffer the same fate in order to receive such consolation?

I have always thought that if God were to visit this world, the slogan “It’s more fun in the Philippines,” cannot be reason enough for him to make a side-trip here. Two Filipino friends in Sweden, who hold doctorates in physics, refuse to return to the Philippines because they think it would be absurd for them to leave their employers in Europe. And with each passing day, thousands of mothers, young and old, leave their own children to take care of foreign children abroad.

Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is out on bail. President Aquino will, of course, discuss this with his closest advisers. Still, I don’t think this is the most urgent issue for all of us. P-Noy, being our leader, should address something more important—what does it all mean to be Filipino? A leader does not only give direction to his people. He must also help them find the meaning of their lives.

—CHRISTOPHER RYAN MABOLOC,

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