Complementing Cultures

NAME: CHARISSE JANE H. CHAVEZ DATE: August 11, 2013
SECTION: ENG1 THY Complementing Cultures

In our English 1 class my professor lectured about the essay that James Fallows wrote “A Damaged Culture: A New Philippines?” It is so controversial especially for us Filipinos. He mainly attacked us with mortifying description of our culture. I mainly oppose his statements in his essay because we don’t have a damaged culture but instead a rich and diverse way of living. We have 175 languages here in the Philippines, 171 are living languages and as Gilberto Teodoro, Jr. said, “language is the principal manifestation of culture.” There are so many languages here in the island of the Philippines, we are rich and diverse! See how diverse we are with these languages all over the Philippines? Our culture is very rich with its diversity, from the different practices in cooking, languages, and beliefs. These characteristic is not a hindrance towards the growth of the Philippines both economically and politically. I mainly believe that the problem is not in our culture, but it is the colonizer who continues its ruling power on our country. Are we really free from them? I doubt it. We can’t maximize the full potential of this naturally-rich country because of the Americans. They just let the Filipinos see the pretentious facade that we are really from their grip, but the truth is we are enveloped by not by their guiding light but their shadow that blocks the light of supposed to be prosperous country of the Philippines. As I walk in the mall, shops originated in US are all over the place. When I cross the streets, imitations of the branded clothes, shoes, bags, and other stuffs famous in America can be found almost everywhere. Now, this is what I call problem. We import the surplus of the Americans and we are fond in buying those. Reason? It is mainly because we are in the hold of the US, they impose to us that state sides are better than what we have ,but the materials used in making these imported products mostly came from the Philippines. Ironic right? Excessive cutting of trees are mainly because of the imports demand. Buildings for call centers are almost all around the Philippines. Forests and mountains are converted into buildings and roads invested mainly by the foreigners. I’m just thinking why our nature should suffer in improving our country? While our nature suffers many Filipinos can’t feel this improvement. Just like in the SCTEX, it is mainly built for the middlemen or upperclassmen because in order to use it we must have lots of money to pay in the toll. Foreigners are mainly profiting here, and who to blame, our colonizers. Marcos is not only to blame with his corrupt and ruthless reign in the Phillipine government but also the Spaniards and the Americans who exploit our resources, from the trees to the golds we own. Our resources that are supposed to be enjoyed by us were taken-away from us. Unfortunately, it is still happening in the current time. I would like to oppose what Fallows said about the way of our lives. I really disagree on what Fallows stated, according to him, “…it is obvious that most Filipinos lack decent houses, can’t afford education, in some areas are short in food, and in general are very, very poor.” We are not poor! Let me start with the statement that we lack decent houses. Back in our history, our ancestors are mainly nomadic, and until now some of us practice this way of living. How fascinating it would be! Our history is preserved in the present by the living bodies of the Filipino citizens like the Negritos and Aetas. We are born to be survivors, we can live everywhere. Our home is our nature. Another issue is about our education. Our parents teach us in an early age about how to face problems in our lives. Many people in tribes teach their children how to survive in their daily lives, like hunting and gathering foods. We can afford education! It’s just seems that the education they are pertaining are learning to speak English because it symbolizes high rank in the society. Well, it is not! Languages are equal; it is not about knowing or learning English to have a better life. Lastly is about the shortage of foods. In this time, I will agree with Fallows. We experience shortage of food mainly because the lands the farmers used to till were converted into malls or call center buildings built by the foreigners. Before, farmers have bountiful harvest of the crops they plant but now it is scarce. It is mainly because the polluted air and the chemicals produced by the large companies and industries in the Philippines. Our best service is not in the sex industry! This is a major negative connotation foreigners give to us. One of the reasons is that our past colonizers abused sexually the Filipina women. We are so generous, kind, sweet and loving, many of these traits are some of the reasons why foreigners are finding love here in the Philippines ,but not because of the body of women. Like what I have said a while ago sex industry is not our best service, we have lots of attractions here! Starting with our natural resources, and down to the cultural heritage sites in the Philippines are great industries that could be the reason to promote the Philippines. I am here to fight for the Filipinos and fight for our motherland. In Fallows essay there is a part there where he wrote, “ the war of every man against every man” where he tackled about our close family ties idea, he said that because of these that our special treatment are closed only within the group of our family. I strongly disagree with his claim. We are not in a war, we are unified as one. Yes, we have different cultures, but we treat each other as one family. We are part of a huge circle of family where everyone is welcome, because of our diversity we learn to accept other people for who they are. We may not be brothers or sisters in blood, but we are connected by heart. We are family by heart. Culture is susceptible to change, but it doesn’t mean we need to change it everything. Change is for improvement, but I firmly disagree that we have a damaged culture. We don’t need to wipe everything because that is who we are. This is our identity and we are created uniquely from each other, like our culture. Differences may be a lot ,but I can see it as our strength. There is no such thing as perfect, but because of the variations we complement well with each other. If only we could get rid of the grip of our colonizer before, we could finally spread our wings and fly high with the worlds competing force.