LAST MONTH I received an anonymous letter in response to a letter of mine that was published in the Nov 30, 2010 issue of the Inquirer. The sender did not give his/her name and simply identified himself/herself as “a senior citizen” from Paco, Manila. He/she did not even put a return address.
My letter was titled, “Japan can, why can’t PH?” His/her reply was, “No we can’t. The Japanese people are too disciplined while Pinoys [go] kanya-kanya at [make] palusot all the time.” Here we have a perfect example of the defeatist mentality and inferiority complex that are not uncommon among our people. Some Filipinos tend to think that we have defects that are too ingrained in our culture so that we cannot rise above them. With this kind of attitude we will not develop and move forward.
Let’s cooperate and help each other to get rid of this attitude among our people. Perhaps all too frequently people read the “bad” news in the papers: disasters, scams, wars, murders, accidents, etc. It is quite rare to find “good” news or success stories. Perhaps the only good news that people read is about Pacquiao’s victories. But I think our people need to read more about the victories of other Filipinos so that we will realize we can do great things and rise above our defeatism, mediocrity and inferiority. That way our people will think we can do the great and wonderful things other countries have achieved.
This is a suggestion for the Inquirer: be on the lookout for Filipino achievers and highlight their stories in the news and editorials. If the Inquirer has to write editorials about mistakes, it might consider pointing out as well the right and proper thing that should have been done. I know that the Inquirer already does this, but perhaps it could add a line about how feasible or possible a virtue can be practiced by Filipinos and about the great good it will do to all of us.
—FR. CECILIO L. MAGSINO,
cesmagsino@gmail.com