But somehow, I feel that people are still missing the point: this constant lack of insecurity and grandstanding that we Filipinos have has again manifested its ugly head. I talked about it here. This sense of insecurity prompts out nation's leaders to blabber on in million peso-meetings, which prompts these inept boards to think "Hey, let's boost our town's pride by making the World's Longest Longganisa!", instead of "Hey, we need more industry. Let's try to raise more money by being proud of our culture and focusing on our strengths and products, without selling our soul to the devil or destroying the environment."
This small-mindedness, this insecurity, this need to feel better about ourselves by putting other people down , dooms our fragile nation. Nick Joaquin had complained about how our nation lacks ambition. I feel that we are shooting ourselves in the foot for small mercies, like having other people look up to us.
Mr. Padlan destroyed his life out of sheer bad luck? I don't think so. His HABITS doomed him. However, would he have ever been caught if he recognized the First Daughter? Kung nabuhay siya ng marangal, kung hindi siya nagpapa-bigshot, hindi siya malalagay sa alanganin.
If he lived a modest life, if he didn't feel the need to boss other people around, he ould not have been in trouble.
From the Inquirer website:
"On the flip side, the source said immigration officers have noticed that some passengers have started to appear haughty since after the story broke about Padlan's run-in with Evangeline Lourdes "Luli" Arroyo that stemmed from his reportedly rude treatment of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s only daughter.
"Ang tatapang na raw ng mga pasahero (The passengers have reportedly grown bolder)," the source said in Filipino"
Appear haughty? You know these guys were merely so unused to meting courtesy.
From another Inquirer story:
"Ferdinand Sampol, the head supervisor of the Bureau of Immigration at the NAIA said the incident had prompted the BI to “study our training program once and for all.(emphasis mine)”
Talaga? Buti naman at naisipan nila.
Another issue has been rocking Singapore as well. Please read it here.
Okay here's the gist: Some thirty-something yuppie blogs about the indifference of the government to the plight of the middle-class, and of Singaporean society in general. He has the usual complaints: Job insecurity, how expensive it is to raise a child. The usual middle-class schtick. Then some bratty girl, member of an elite, intellectual program in one of Singapore's most prestigious universities, and the daughter of a Member of Parliament, slams back in her blog. Her closer is a classic: "Get Out of My Elite, Uncaring Face". Causes a sensation. Dad apologises for daughter's behaviour with a non-apology. Girl closes down blog.
This same kind of arrogance is what happens when we allow people to step on us, to feel that they are superior to us. You would think that this mentality would've grown out in the middle ages. Could it be human nature at work here? If it is, would we ever outgrow this insecurity?
I have to agree with some of Ms. Wee's views. I've seen it happen here in East Germany. Unreasonable job security during the Communist era has proved to be detrimental to the competitiveness of the ordinary East German worker. But the unreasonable nastiness of how it was said doomed her. In the end, her HABITS doomed her. If she did not blog about what she felt, subsequently exposing her superiority complex, would she have been caught?
Insecurity can do a lot of things. It provides interesting drama in a nation like Singapore. But in the Philippines, our national inferiority complex has worse complications.
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