Rediscovering Filipino Values
Good morning to all of you.
It is a rare pleasure for me to be here in such company to share my own profound insights about a topic that, in the light of close scrutiny, may as well define our future as a nation. But let me not bore you with such technicalities as an analysis of a cataract several times remove, yet persistent as the barnacles on a ship’s hull.
Rather, permit me to begin with a story, one in which all of us might have been a part of at one time or another. A story quite common, yet often times overlooked. Let me tell you of my experience with a slice of the grim realities of life in our country, a reality we face as a nation.
So I begin.
It is sad...
Just the other day I witnessed a bunch of kids, no more than 7 or 8 years old in my reckoning, engaged in a popular network game at the local internet cafe. School must have been over early, as they were still in the brown shorts or pants and white t-shirt common to most public schools. Big bags containing books and other school stuffs still slung to their slender shoulders, eyes raptly fixed to the bright CRT screens flashing images of fantasy. They must have been really into their game, exchanging banters and cajoling each other towards the goal of victory in their virtual universe. This must have been a common scene for most of us given the propensity of computer shop in every neighbourhood nowadays.
But what appalled me most was hearing their casual use of obscene and oppressive language. It was a verbal assault that would have literally had my Lola beating the living crap out of these little miscreants. Yet the braggarts dish out these foul verbiages with such mirth and candour as though it was stock and store, while I cringe at each filthy reference to their mates’ mothers’ promiscuity. Coming unabashed from the mouths of young individuals such as these, it made me question the values that should have been passed on to the next generation.
Where have our values gone?
It is a rare pleasure for me to be here in such company to share my own profound insights about a topic that, in the light of close scrutiny, may as well define our future as a nation. But let me not bore you with such technicalities as an analysis of a cataract several times remove, yet persistent as the barnacles on a ship’s hull.
Rather, permit me to begin with a story, one in which all of us might have been a part of at one time or another. A story quite common, yet often times overlooked. Let me tell you of my experience with a slice of the grim realities of life in our country, a reality we face as a nation.
So I begin.
It is sad...
Just the other day I witnessed a bunch of kids, no more than 7 or 8 years old in my reckoning, engaged in a popular network game at the local internet cafe. School must have been over early, as they were still in the brown shorts or pants and white t-shirt common to most public schools. Big bags containing books and other school stuffs still slung to their slender shoulders, eyes raptly fixed to the bright CRT screens flashing images of fantasy. They must have been really into their game, exchanging banters and cajoling each other towards the goal of victory in their virtual universe. This must have been a common scene for most of us given the propensity of computer shop in every neighbourhood nowadays.
But what appalled me most was hearing their casual use of obscene and oppressive language. It was a verbal assault that would have literally had my Lola beating the living crap out of these little miscreants. Yet the braggarts dish out these foul verbiages with such mirth and candour as though it was stock and store, while I cringe at each filthy reference to their mates’ mothers’ promiscuity. Coming unabashed from the mouths of young individuals such as these, it made me question the values that should have been passed on to the next generation.
Where have our values gone?