Fly like a bird

Today is Independence Day. For sure there will be articles to inspire and reports on why we should commemorate the day. TV stations will feature shows about our heroes and the meaning of nationalism. The Philippine flag will be distributed and flown in many places, in the hope that all Filipinos will feel the spirit. People will talk about the holiday and how they will spend it.

Teachers will prepare for the new school year and will keep wondering if a salary increase is in store for them. Other people will continue bickering about the newly elected president. China will stand firm on its territorial claim even on parts of our exclusive economic zone. The war in the Middle East, and civilian deaths, will go on. The planet Earth will keep rotating.

Yes, life goes on. Despite how heartbreaking or life-changing an event is, we will continue breathing—except for those among us who have to die to save the day, and thus become part of history. Our heroes died so our nation will gain independence from conquerors. Will you be able to give your life for freedom’s sake? Will you die so that others may live? If you can, with no regrets, then you are such a hero. Hail to the martyr!

But are Filipinos truly rid of the slavery from which our heroes freed us? We may be free of the 333 years of Spanish colonization, 48 years of American rule, and four years of Japanese occupation, but are we actually unbound? The answer is maybe. We have our own lifestyle, yet we honor the Catholic Church and celebrate the fiestas introduced by the Spaniards. We have our own food and entertainment, yet we cherish Japanese tempura, karaoke and anime. We have our own government and our languages, yet we need America’s power and language to ensure our global recognition. These are something we cannot deny; we are shaped by the history that made the Philippines what it is today.

Unfortunately, there is something deeper, graver, about our history of colonization, and that is cultural slavery. Who are the oppressors and who are the slaves in this situation? We are both the oppressors and the slaves. Among Filipinos, cultural slavery is a natural servitude. It is our own jail built by our own cultural ideologies.

We are taught to act the way we do by the people around us. Women are taught to be prim and modest since that is how a Filipino, Catholic, or Muslim woman should be. Yet there are still numbers of youth who go astray—victims of unwanted pregnancy, illegal drugs, and the like. Why? Because they feel like caged birds, and tend to seek freedom. And when they find a cage coated with promises of liberty, they grab it and enjoy living in it.

Naively, they revel in thinking how free they are. They think that living in the new cage is protecting themselves from doing something they cannot do. But if we really look at it, they have enslaved themselves to the pressures of society. They are not free at all.

This cultural slavery results in two fatal flaws among Filipinos: One is cowardice and the other is pride.

We become cowards by being silent even when something is not right. We avoid arguing with people who claim and display supremacy. We go along with them because we think that’s what we should do. We are afraid that we might become their object of maltreatment. And we do not question how the culture works. We keep on living within and according to its system even if it goes against our own preferences. It’s because we are afraid of isolation, of being excluded from society at large. We are scared to be alone, to be abandoned.

Luckily, not all Filipinos are living with cowardice. Some are brave enough to challenge the status quo and to question their own culture. Some do not worry about being left out of the community. As long as they strongly believe in their views, they stand tall against all the criticism from their own people. That’s how a free man or woman is, or should be.

But, according to John Diefenbaker, a former prime minister of Canada, “freedom is the right to be wrong, not the right to do wrong.” Filipinos who go overboard with their bravery are unconsciously drowning in the second flaw: pride.

When we believe too much in our own views, we end up wallowing in unjustifiable pride. If we are not careful, we will assume that we are always right and the others are wrong. In this case, the prevailing belief is: People who do not think as we do are irrational or immature. Thus, we unconsciously commit the mistakes of others, believing we are right.

Here’s an example: elders who always take pride in their opinions and decisions. Young people cannot argue with these elders even in the softest, most respectful ways because they deem it rude to do so: It’s another form of cultural slavery. Their mistake is they cannot admit being wrong even when they clearly are. This is something that hurts young people. And some try to be patient; others choose to be rebellious.

Think about it: We are not really doing the things we want because we are free. We are doing it because we are supposed to, or maybe because we have to. That’s it! Maybe! Our uncertainty started this cultural slavery. Maybe if I argue with them, I’ll be punished. Maybe if I go my own way, I’ll be isolated. Maybe if I become who I am, I’ll be discriminated against. Maybe. Because we are scared of maybes, we have ended up being enslaved by our own conceptions.

So, to become less of a slave, why sing inside the cage? Why not fly like a bird?

We should try becoming more of who we are and less of what we are expected to be. We have to free our souls from the fear and guilt of being different from others. We have to become brave and humble at the same time: brave enough to fly beyond the boundaries, and humble enough to land.

Ainnah Abdul Jabbar, 23, a BSed English graduate of Mindanao State University-Marawi City, “dares to be different.” She is a freelance writer at Essays.ph.