"We Built Our Nation on Mediocrity"

I felt a sense of unease yet agreement as I heard our professor utter this statement. But even if it does hurt as a Filipino, as a critic I would have to agree with this. I do not know if this is for all the times that we have faltered or have had historical moments, but I do know that is is for the times at present that we are unable to stand up and save our country from the perils that faces each one of us. Perhaps that is the problem right there. Each one of us. Ako. Ikaw. Siya. Sila.

We have had this culture of not caring much about our meighbor for so long that if someone is actually able to do so out of kindness, it makes the evening news. How about that. And we say we are hospitable people when we could not even afford to make our own country hospitable for ourselves, our communities, our people, our nation. How is it even possible that we come to care about situations only when it involves our sake or the sake of people we care about? This is how I see it then. Our naiton is not mediocre because our people are lazy or anything of that matter. It is not that because if we were a culture of lazy people we would not have success stories overseas. Heck, we would not have Senators or House Representatives who came from nowhere to where they are now if you get my point.

What then is the issue here, the issue here has somehting to do with you, me, them, and all of us-- COLLECTIVELY. I quite enjoy that word and would like to hear it more often in this country. It is precisely I think because of the lack of collective efforts that we are unable to grow and develop as a nation. We have all these notions about what a leader is and who a great leader is but if do nothing to help the leader obtain his goals for development then we are just as much to blame for the situation of this country as he, and his cabinet secretaries are.

It hurts to hear the truth. But once we hear it, we think about it and once we do, we begin to have ideas. These ideas are once that, hopefully, will allow us too have a stronger sense of nationalism, and community.

COMMUNITY, and then IDENTITY.