A few days ago, I was at the dorm lobby with my girlfriend when we were suddenly approached by a Chinese foreign exchange student. This student was undergoing his graduate studies in journalism and it was second visit to the Philippines and Ateneo. He began by asking us some mundane questions about the dorm and when it was built and what was it for. Eventually the topics turned to the Philippines in general. Language, culture and how it all related to the Chinese. I tried my best to give him a history of the Chinese in the Philippines from what I learned from my History classes and in turn, he gave me some history and perspective on the Chinese and how they viewed the Philippines.
It was strange hearing how their values were so different from ours, that somehow the prevailing Chinese stereotype in the Philippines holds true. The way the exchange student talked about how intensely pragmatic the Chinese are, and how highly they value the idea of high income equals secure future. Stranger still was how, talking about the Philippines with him made me realize that our country isn’t very simple at all. Sure, a person can be aware of the thousands of islands that exist, the multitude of languages that are present, the different cultures that exist but it never really hit me that all this was in the Philippines. In a way, I took it for granted that the Philippines was this insane melting pot of culture that historically has been really mixed and confusing and remains so to this day.
What did I take away from the long talk with the foreign exchange student? That we often take things for granted. In this case, country and history. Many times in our discussion, travel was mentioned and how that it would be an eye opener and a mind widener, but when I think of that kind of travel, I think out of the country. Places in Europe and Africa and the rest of Asia were the destinations in mind, not the places in the Philippines. I believe that there exists a lot of untapped knowledge and perspective around the Philippines. Differing cultures mean differing values and each culture would give a different perspective on our own, similar to how religions giver perspective to other religions.
In a way, this made me realize that there exists a lot if wisdom from sources local to us, but maybe we just haven’t been looking at it, or taking it seriously. The Philippines has a rich history within it and I believe we are taking it for granted too often. Many people in the Philippines’ past still have much to teach us.
How does this relate to philosophy? I guess I could say it all comes back to awareness and the broken world, maybe on a more literal broken world level. We still have a large disconnection with other cultures, even though with today’s technology that shouldn’t be much of an issue. We continue to be absorbed by our own problems locally that maybe we fail to see the wisdom that other countries can provide to help with our situation.
Your discussion about the Philippines made me look back on my HI165 course under Dean Aguilar that ended just recently. For someone who had zero interest in History before, and had minimal knowledge about what happened in the history of the Philippines, both the course and my professor managed to turn my attitude towards the country 360 degrees because it made me see how much more there is to the Philippines aside from being "just" the Philippines. It also made me realized that we do actually take advantage of our country. We belittle it so much that we only see how degraded it is compared to first world countries, and we fail to see how rich it is in all aspects that actually matter.
ReplyDeleteI think it's really great that you listened and talked with a foreigner about our country. Despite having them living in our country for so long, we fail to ask what they actually think and feel about being here.
I do hope that your experience would manage to give an insight to a lot more people, and make them open their eyes and see past the negative circumstances that has been happening around us, and let them appreciate how beautiful our country is.
Cy Lagamson (C)
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ReplyDeleteI agree that that the world is indeed very broken. However, perhaps we are reaching a point where we are actually trying to mend it. I think that your conversation with this foreigner is actually a filling and mending of our "brokeness". Communication truly brings out different meanings and it is through this that we are able to be connected with that of others. I think that your conversation with his foreigner actually heals us in a way as we are brought together as individuals no longer gated and separated by our cultural differences or perhaps by physical distance of our counties. As we come to realize that the opinions and thoughts of others, we come to recognize its value to us. It allows us to see the world differently and ultimately brings us to this lighted place of truth.
ReplyDeleteFrenchi Baluyot (A)
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ReplyDeleteWhen a newcomer or a second-timer comes and talks to you and comments about your country, it should not surprise you that most of his ideas is more or less based on comparisons from his/her own country. Yes, we should admit that oftentimes, there is a sort of ignorance about their comments but it would come also as an eye-opener for us, giving us a kind of perspective that is new to us; new to us in the sense that we can hear new perspectives of how foreigners view our country. Oftentimes, stereotypes are embarrassing. Humans love to stereotype (or should I say, averaging?). I believe that stereotyping is a kind of averaging a somewhat more complex social phenomena, which is oftentimes not as accurate as its mathematical counterpart (in statistics). The reason, we need statistics to back up our observations (in this case, stereotypes).
ReplyDeleteMenardo Miguel Jimenez (A)
This essay reminds us how the Truth is always dialogical. Although we may never get the absolute Truth, it's important to put ourselves out there more and engage in conversations with people who who would normally just pass us by. No matter how similar or contradicting their beliefs are to what we hold as the Truth, it enlightens us and brings us a step closer to what we have been searching our whole lives for. Consequently, we can't help but share this newfound information with other people, just like what these bloggers are doing. It's a chain process and we all need each other to change and broaden our perspectives. This is why sir always reminds us how the "Self" is a combination of all the people and experiences in our life.
ReplyDeletegenica lim (C)
I still find it sad that people can be so alien to each other even within their own country. I guess the Philippines and China are both good examples for this since both countries have very diverse people, dialects and cultures within their own borders that if two people from different ends of the country were to meet, they would most likely not be able to understand each other.
ReplyDeleteI remember an anecdote told by my prof in HI 165 about when Aguinaldo was fleeing north from the Americans, he encountered a northern tribe in the mountains and the tribesmen started throwing stones and making threats at him to not come near their territory. Isn't it a strange image to see the first president of the Philippine republic getting threatened by Filipinos? They were a minority group to be sure but the image of brokenness still stands between people who live in the same country.
Still, your conversation with this foreigner shows that we can bond and find a way to understand each other. Being broken doesn't mean it can't be fixed and one of the ways we can begin to understand each other is what happened to you here, simple dialogue.
Ramon Domingo (C)
Speaking from one who has seen not all but definitely several beautiful provinces in the Philippines, I would have to agree with Charles that we do have the tendencies to take our country for granted. Perhaps if we dwell on the obvious problems our government face today we will always fail to see beyond these issues. I believe that its time we try to pay attention more to the beauty of our country, by appreciating natural resources and other riches our country has. I think this can also be related to philosophy in a sense that sometimes we're too stuck and busy with life that we fail to understand and see the beautiful and good things in front of us. Hence the need to philosophize. Because what good would life bring us, if we always worry about our troubles. Sometimes we need something to bounce us back. Perhaps a vacation around our beautiful country, i might add. :D
ReplyDeleteKyla Relucio (A)
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ReplyDeleteI completely agree with this. All of us are different, we all have different perspectives in life, and I guess, because most of us grew up here in the Philippines, the core values that was instilled to us are somewhat similar. Having a foreigner for a talk would not just be informative, but it would also let one understand the disparity between each cultures. When you stated that "Differing cultures mean differing values and each culture would give a different perspective on our own, similar to how religions giver perspective to other religions." I also realized that these differences in our perspectives could really help us in our comprehension of our country more, especially realizing that at times we are just too blind to see what is in front of us (remember This is Water by David Foster Wallace?)
ReplyDeleteI think that this is also a reason why we have philosophy, so that we might be able to open ourselves up to the different views of the world and in essence, this is what you've achieved in talking and understanding the different views of your foreign friend.
Trixia Tan (C)
I agree when you said that we take the Philippines, our own country, for granted. We lack the appreciation for our country's potential. Many Filipinos dream of going abroad to work or go on a vacation. But I would like to focus on work. Because of this, our country loses the talents from people who could excel here in the Philippines. There are so many Filipinos who get famous in other countries and we'd like to share in the happiness of their achievements.But personally, I just can't help but to think. What if they pursued their career in the Philippines? What is the difference between their lives now and their lives if ever they worked here?
ReplyDeleteBut this realization of yours is really good. it really made me think of what I can do for our country. It's really an inspiring one.
Camille Luber (C)
This reminds me of a FIL 12 class I had under Mr. Derain. He asked us what the word "Filipino" meant. When people say "Filipino", it's usually Manila-centric and exclusive of even large ethnic minorities like the Chinese-Filipinos living in Binondo. It's hard to say exactly who or what a Filipino is, and I think reading your blog sort of helped me answer that question. There is no one definition; it's an analogous term that should include all cultures and ethnicities present in the Philippines.
ReplyDelete- Veronica Jereza (C)