A Heritage of Smallness

[siopao1984]

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It all started when I saw my friend's video post in Facebook about Lourd deVeyra's mini documentary: The word of the Lourd. As I browse through his previous videos, I saw one episode entitled "A Heritage of Smallness" (SEE YOUTUBE VIDEO HERE). As I got more engaged with this, I read our National artist: Nick Joaquin's essay. from there, I realized that we Filipinos truly think small and yes, I am not exempted from this way of thinking.

It is a shame that we do not adapt to customs, we do not embrace changes, and we hate to leave our comfort zone. Although yes, we work hard for our future, so hard that up to the point that we end up sweating blood (please don't interpret it literally). But sometimes, no matter how hard we work, the rewards are so small that we end up spending everything and still our savings are empty. Although, I am grateful that my work pays me well compared to others since I am an OFW, but I only find it just enough for my own personal expenses and a few for my savings, but cannot suffice the luxuries that I want.

Yes, we think small. We have to admit that most of us fear big things, some of us fear big risks, fear big responsibilities, to the extent that we lose focus or interest in doing things that will greatly improve us. Sadly, when we fear big responsibilities, most of us Filipinos creates an amoeba-like thinking. We fear that when things get big, we lose our control over it. just like in our government, when a certain barangay goes big, we split them. If a province is too big, we split them and just add suffixes like Occidental and Oriental, delNorte and delSur instead of making them a big federation. Most of us fear to take risks and just settle for a sub-par business instead of making a big enterprises or corporations. I guess that's why they say that "fortune favors the bold." because big-time businessmen does bold decisions and takes risks for breakfast. But with all these, the worst part is that we fear big things. We fear that if something or someone is bigger than us, we tend to put them down or belittle them and this is where our crab mentality comes in.

It is just plain sad that for how many generations, this way of thinking is still present within us. I, myself is guilty of this, and probably what I can do is learn from my mistakes and become a better person and start to think BIG.

So what are you gonna do or have you done to overcome this heritage of smallness? Please leave a comment below.

Nick Joaquin's essay here.

P.S. no thread flaming please

[ambokz]

isang malaking TAMA!....kaya di tayo mka asenso eh,dahil may takot....even me in a simplest way na pagluluto,pag maramihan o malakihan na handaan,di ko kyang magluto,kac takot ako baka maiba ung timpla.tsk tsk...I guess I have to think BIG na!

[chrisangel]

corek jud! most of us, we want things to be perfect and avoid ta na maulawan mao iwas gulo pirmi ending wlay asinso! bati sad engun ani ta pirmi oi! we need to grow up and take gamble!

[dearlabe]

We Filipinos are indeed so fond of pygmy-like structure/practice in our everyday lives but I believe that is not innate to us. We have definitely become who we are by how we are geographically scattered and by the various invasions that have influenced our primitive Filipino's own ways of living. We have become fearful of the risks in decisions, big and small, for we have been molested by various races as well. We have become traumatized all these years and we are still coping and trying to erase that sad part of our history. I still believe in the Filipino blood, that we are a great race only if we had been allowed to become who we would have wanted our race to be but despite that we are coping, and coping still. Despite this heritage of smallness, Filipinos still emerge great in various parts of the world and for I am hopeful too that the future of the Philippines is still bright. Mabuhay!

[farmboy]

^^the future is bright kung wala lang unta brownout..

hey, i am not thinking a future of smallness ha...im just trying to say.. filipinos are small.

[THE KID]

i will resign from work.........THINK BIG....

[moy1moy1]

Nganu karun pamani nga humana na akung assignment ani hahaha..



'nways, the problem of our economical deficiency is seeped out by our heritage to smallness..

[gareb]

Filipinos think small because our orientation is different. we possess a worldview that is both romantic and anachronistic. this worldview has been propped up by our collective experience as a people. you can blame history for how we see things, but that is what it is.

our orientation as a people is this: we focus on the family, not on the community. we will move heaven and earth just to give the members of our family decent lives, but we have a persistent difficulty in translating this heroism to be done in behalf of the nation.

the development of this worldview is easy to understand. aside from the fact that we are an archipelago of islands, languages and cultures, the phenomena of a nation is something that has always been in second priority to the family. this is because there is always a disconnection between nation-building, the role of the individual in it, as well as the role of families a lack of common imagination of what is good for a nation, and not just for families.

this disconnection is brought about and reinforced by the kind of political structures and political culture that we have. national politics only exists on the tv screens. our first contact with politics are local landlord-politicians who perpetuate themselves in power, handling out services as dole-outs like relief goods in a disaster, expecting us to be grateful for it.

instead of imagining ourselves as a community, as a nation, we stagnate into putting our families first above all else since we have more control over it through our own hard work.

our collective social psyche imagine things in small proportions, precisely because imagining it in bigger servings have time and time again failed us. it is a collective defense mechanism against failure: to imagine ourselves winning where we failed.

this problem isn't just cultural. it is also social and political in nature. our collective experience as a people (culture) reflects how we deal with each other (social), and what dictates what is fair and what isn't (political).

i have heard so much of how we are supposedly possess a "damaged culture" with "crab mentality" and the likes ringing the air. i'd like to say however that our culture and our social mindset is brought about by the things that we have experienced and are continually experiencing, and as a reaction to it.

cure the cancer, not the symptom.

[ralfy]

A return to such smallness is inevitable given limits to growth coupled with global warming and chronic global economic crises:

"Limits to Growth was right. New research shows we're nearing collapse"

https://www.theguardian.com/commenti...aring-collapse

[brownie]

Small alleys, small bridges, small downtown streets, small stores, small houses, small rooms even the iconic banig... all accustomed during the Japanese occupation. Avoiding mistakes to protect our own repertoire, trying to blend in as much as possible and very hesitant to stand out and step up is very Japanese-y. In fact, small-mindedness leads to a peaceful union of individuals, because every aspect of risks are diminished to a point where it will not bother a person's target interest in the process.

Americans are airheads while the Brits tend to be bone-headed but they are great risk takers.

Blame the imperial Japan for this matter. But I like it being small.