continuation...

So why can't the Filipinos just get rid of the colonial mentality and
move on? We cannot get rid of the colonial mentality because there is
nothing for us to commonly fall back on. What was the Filipino culture before the discovery of the Philippines? We were dispersed tribes. There was no one Filipino people back then with a common goal/vision/experience that united enough individuals to the point of creating a cultural wave large enough to withstand the onslaught of the colonizers.

A tribal people was thrust into a "civilized" world and was expected to
embrace a foreign culture(s) as their very own. To add salt to injury,
the Spaniards did not institutionalize "education." The Spaniards came and did not see it fit to establish a cultural and educational system that would have formally brought the native Filipino up to speed with the developments in the West. If they did then we would all be speaking Spanish right now. They came and lived like they were in Europe while the native Filipino simply followed what they were told to do.

Then our own age of enlightenment arrived. We finally realized that
this is our land and not theirs. The struggle of the revolutionaries
began. But then unfortunately before the revolutionaries had enough
time to impact the whole country, the Americans came. And yet another
culture imposed on the native Filipino. Although the Americans
institutionalized education in the Philippines, we were taught the American way of life and not the Filipino way of life.

The occupation of the Japanese in the early part of the 1940s did
little to our Americanized mind set. We just got beaten up by the bully of the block. Well big brother came back and kicked out the bully from our backyard.

Then something happened in 1945 that further stressed or even confused
the Filipinos sense of identity and purpose. We were given our
independence by the Americans. For centuries we just did as we were told and then suddenly we were suppose to govern ourselves in a civilized manner that we as a people did not fully grasp and understand. Did the average Filipino back then truly understand the concept of democracy and the huge responsibilities (and accountabilities) that come with it? I don't think the vast majority today comprehends the true essence of democracy. How much less back then?

So if we ask ourselves who is the Filipino we cannot help but trace our
history. Prior to 1945, we were not Americans. Prior to the Americans, we were not Spaniards. Prior to the Spaniards we were a dispersed number of tribes living in huts clueless of one another. In less than a generation when we finally got formal western education (not our own), without a cultural identity holding and binding a diverse people together, we were now expected to govern ourselves in the arena called the civilized world. That's like giving a loaded gun to a child.

Just being granted its independence and not yet meeting the standards
set by the civilized world, the Philippines had simply become a third world country. With no sense of national identity, communal and cultural ties with the people living in the 7,100+ islands that make up the Philippine archipelago, what did the Filipino people do? We governed our lives as we knew best, as dispersed tribal people.

People in Luzon have no commonality with the people in Mindanao.
People in Quezon City have no commonality with the people in Makati. And this is true for most parts of the Philippines, if not all. Yes we have lots of relatives in the provinces but that is all that we have, relatives. We do not share something deep in the core as a people.

So we live like tribal folk with no sense of national unity. We know
what the words mean but as a people we cannot identify with it. Well, not yet anyway. Now that we have been brainwashed into what at civilized first world is like, we all want to get there quickly. And we do it not as a people but as individuals and individual tribes, taking the shortest possible route.

The Filipinos live in a world not of their own making. It is a world
imposed upon them by the "civilized" people of the West. A world whose
rules, conduct and standards are dictated by the Westerners. A world
that says a better life is a Western life. But are Westerners to blame for imposing their way of life on the Filipinos? I think not. Nothing
could have stopped the colonization of the Philippines. It was bound to happen sooner or later.

In my opinion, the difficulty the Philippines is facing now is due to
the fact that we are still operating like individual tribes. We live in a "civilized" world but think and act like tribal folk. Since as a
people we have not culturally evolved into this "civilized" world, we have little respect and understanding of the responsibilities that come with living in a "civilized" world.

The Philippines is going through its growing pains. This is our
initiation into the "civilized" world. These are our baby steps towards national unity. Some blood may have to be spilled and heroes sacrificed. This is the era when our national consciousness starts to take shape. This is the time when the weak shall be weeded out and the strong shall prevail. A lot may not see it but I think this is the beginnings of a great nation.

We were not given a chance to evolve as a people in our own way. We
were thrust into the "civilized" world and are now taking a crash course in Civilization 101. It will take time. Possibly a very long time since the rules of engagement in today's "civilized" world are different from when the first world countries underwent their baptism of fire.

So should we worry that the Philippines is going down the tubes? I
think not. The Filipino people may be slow in learning its lesson but it is a lesson being learned. There will only be political stability once the Philippines reaches a certain level of maturity as a people. And maturing as a people takes a long time, especially when this "civilized" world is someone else's doing.

It's been a little over a generation since we were given our
independence. The state of our national consciousness is like little
sapling in a forest. It'll take years, decades and maybe centuries
before it becomes a full grown tree.

So for those of us who see the glass as half empty and whine because
doom is upon us, I say: Yes, we will suffer. Many will die hungry.
Fortunes will be ruined and made. People will take to the streets. Wars will be fought. Battles won and battles lost. Politicians will come and go. Gasoline prices will go up. Scores will leave the country. Some will come back. The population will grow. The Peso will devaluate. Foreign investors will take out their money while others will pump in more. Natural disasters will ravage the country. Many more good and bad things will come to pass. And through all these our national consciousness will take shape, mature and unite us as a people. Only then will this great nation take its proper place in the civilized world.

What should we do about it, one might ask? Hey, that's another topic
all together (probably the more important one). We individually know what to do but we lack the national consciousness to do it as a people.

Ingat.

*Name withheld*