Not an easy reading…more like a thesis, but this is enlightening and insightful. So for those who want to understand why we are who we are, read on.

Guys,

Every time I read or hear about the downward spiral of the Philippines,
I wonder why. The letter of Fr. Reuter finally made me stop and think
about it. Maybe because it came from Fr. Reuter. I'd like to share with you my thoughts. Others may have a different opinion. So read on if this subject interests you or if you have nothing else to do. It's quite long.

The thing about history is that we can always explain the condition of
the world today by selectively choosing an event or series of events to
prove our point. I have no doubt about the power of prayer and how God works in mysterious ways. However, the plight of the Philippines today is a result of a complex mixture of immaturity, gullibility, poverty,
self-centeredness, envy, jealousy, illiteracy (more of lack of
education), lack of patriotism and short-sightedness --- all because we were shoved into a way of life that was ahead of our time.

The pinoys are like the poor peasant outside looking into a house of a
rich man (first world countries) through an open window. The peasant wants what the rich man has and wants to become a rich man. The rich man is rich through generations of hard work, sacrifices and toil. The rich man could have been born rich and raised in the ways of the rich. The poor man could have been born poor. Nevertheless, the socio-eco-political gap between the two distinguishes them like water and oil.

But who is to say that the poor man is poor and the rich man rich? At
what standards do we judge a person as being poor or being rich? Who set these standards? The rich? Isn't money and wealth from the imagination of man? Who says a dollar is worth a dollar? Unfortunately in the course of history man has standardized the social standings based on the haves and not the have-nots.

So how did America, Britain and the rest of the first world become
great? They went through a lot of pain, suffering, bloodshed and
self-realization. The first settlers in America were fleeing
persecution from the old world. Did you know a lot of the first pilgrims died in the harsh winters of America (by the ship loads)? When they arrived there were no houses, cabins, roads or farms. There was just wilderness.

So the state of mind of those first pilgrims were somewhat in sync.
They all wanted a better life for themselves. Nobody handed them any relief (maybe food from the Indians). If they didn't tame the land, the land killed them (and a lot of them died). Collectively, they were headed in the same direction. They did not persecute each other because that was exactly what they were fleeing from and they didn't want to create the same environment in the new world. Everyone who went to America wanted a better life (and this is still true today). They made an effort to do things right and they turned to the Bible and prayer for strength. Yes, there were some bad apples but the over all collective consciousness of America's forefathers was to make life better, as a community.

America had its fair share of growing pains. Police, judges and
politicians were in the pockets of the Mafia. Slavery, bigotry, gang
violence and racism scared a growing nation. But yet through it all,
America is America today. It is a place still viewed by a great number
of people as the land of milk and honey.

Britain and the countries who had a monarchy experienced things
differently. There were countless numbers of battles between the old
tribes until the strongest, bravest and most cunning (street smart)
prevailed. Many died. The conquerors built civilizations based on
what they thought these ought to be. The conquerors had to be the smartest among their peers or else they would not have succeeded in battle. Through out these trials in their history, nature took its course and weeded out the weak in body and mind and favored the strong. Being the strongest and the smartest, those kings of old imposed their will on their subjects. The kings unified their subjects from just being merely members of a tribe to a people of a larger nation. Yes there were persecutions and ethnic cleansing but like it or not those were nature's purification processes. Man's darkest days.

The sense of belonging, ownership and a better life were key factors in
the movement towards improvement. Access to a world other than theirs was difficult if not impossible. These young tribes and communities built their culture amongst themselves. To them there was no other world but their own. As other communities got more accessible through the advancement of the modes of transportation, their culture further
improved as did their way of thinking. Centuries of culture and trade would bring about the first world countries as we know them today. Originally from Europe then transplanted to America.

The Australia we know today started as a penal colony. Even the rotten
of the bunch managed to build a nation. But Australia has its heritage
with the British Empire --- a "civilized" world. I wonder how Australia would be today if the Aborigines were given their independence?

Unfortunately for the Philippines it does not share the same
evolutionary path that the first world countries experienced. We did not evolve into a "civilized" society. Civilization came to us when the Europeans arrived 500 years ago. If the Europeans did to the Philippines what they did in North America then the native Filipino would have suffered the same fate as the American Indian. The trade off would be a first world Philippines.

The Filipinos back then were tribal folks living in huts and the
Europeans "civilize" an "uncivilized" people. In the center of all this was the Evangelization of the Gospels. Another way of life (and religion) was imposed on the Filipino natives. We were taught that to be "civilized" we had to talk like the visitors, wear their clothes, eat their food, live in their houses, use their things, study their books, follow their laws and leaders, live and think like them. The Filipinos were "discovered" and as a result our natural evolutionary process ceased (or maybe went into hyper speed).

Since the new culture imposed on us was not our own, we did not have
ownership and a sense of belonging. We live and talked like the
visitors but we were never considered one of them. We never understood the "why" behind this new culture because it was never ours to begin with. Why did we have to wear their clothes in our hot and humid environment? Why did we have to build houses that looked like the European's? Why did we have to pledge allegiance to the king of Spain? Why did we have to eat Paella? We were just told to do so and do so we did. The colonial mentality set in.
...to be continued