Philippines (When Can We Be Satisfied?)
by luceat (Member) - published: April 18, 2005
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Category - Editorials
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Human contentment is unfathomably infinite. Surely, each of us has a fancy to succumb and a goal to achieve. Searching and finding until we can finally satisfy our thirst for contentment. And after that, what? After we achieve our dreams, are we finally satisfied? Are we finally fullfilled or still quest for the rare phantom of "perfection"?
In my own understanding, I believe my country, Philippines, will decline. I can feel it's downfall yet I can't feel hope that can save this land from ruins. Brain and Brawn drain. Very evident of students and even doctors taking up courses (Nursing in demand abroad)that gives them oppurtunity to go abroad to earn "dollars". I am very saddened that many Filipinos will be leaving the country where heroes had sacrificed and died for. Ignoring the small "worthless" peso for the golden, highly praised dollars. Leaving the land the color of their skin has been well known of. Leaving the Philippines for salvation from hunger. Leaving the country until no citizen is left? The land known as the Pearl of the Orient Seas, and now, Starved Orphan of the Polluted Seas.
When can we be satisfied? Until the Philippines is nothing but a mere ghost town? When can we be satisfied? Until our motherland is down to her feet, whipped and slashed? Bleeding and battered to the ground? The issue "Brain and Brawn drain"...CONTENTMENT OR SATISFACTION?
Philippine poverty looks for stable life. I am no economist. I have no idea where and when did poverty actually began. Skeptics says it began when the price of oil fle sky high, homebodies (housewives) accuse that it began when the wrong politicians were enthroned in the government. I mean corruption. Professionals strongly believed and expained that it is because of the population explotion. Yet analysts, contradicts that there is no such thing as overpopulation but only the lack of resources...so many reasons, can we ever be satisfied even if we finally know the answer to our discrepancies? Many accusations. Who is to be blamed? The many answers...CONTENTMENT OR SATISFACTION?

Comments

The following comments are for "Philippines (When Can We Be Satisfied?)"
by luceat

Blame
I think you can put the blame on greed, a problem in most countries. Greed and corruption and a thirst for power. Power corrupts and leads to the law of the jungle - kill or be killed, eat or be eaten.

It's too bad we can't be satisfied with a simpler life, less dependant on money and possessions. The world would be richer for it and less would be downtrodden and hungry, both physically and spiritually.

I enjoyed your editorial. Thought provoking. The writing could be smoother though I assume english is not your primary language. Good job.

( Posted by: gomarsoap [Member] On: April 19, 2005 )

Satisfaction-
Gomar speaks truth- greed and corruption- wish you didn't feel it.
I have had several friends from the Phillipines- gave great recepies, and great knowledge of gardens. I have a true respect.
Sadly, money wins in this venue. Even poets will defect-
When can we be satisfied indeed!
thought provoking write-

Elizabeth

( Posted by: emaks [Member] On: April 19, 2005 )

From a countryman to another
Do not despair. Realities of economics exists. These things are inescapable. What needs to be done is to make sure the culture doesn't die with this process.

Even if our land gets erased by a cataclysmic earthquake, or what-have-you end-of-the-world scenario, our people will exist.

To me the Philippines, and any country for that matter, exists in memory and in the heart of the men and women, Filipino or otherwise, who would have were loved and fallen in love in the country. At the end of all time, when states no longer exists, and islands are only a distant memory, adobo will remain a favorite, and the culture will live on.

Point being, wherever you are in the world, you take your country with you.

( Posted by: webguy [Member] On: April 19, 2005 )

If the Phillipines...
...had managed to kick America out much, much earlier, they might have managed to derail this terrible process. America did to the Phillipines and her people what it tried to do to Cuba.

Fortunately for Cuba, whatever one may say about it, America and the Mafia failed there.

( Posted by: The Alienist [Member] On: April 22, 2005 )

seeds and spores
I am so glad no one else has taken this approach. The Philipines will survive, much as Israel has survived; by adapting and influencing the invading presence. No one knows what the future holds; but the Filipino spirit is very much a part of it. I agree with Gomar, too. The writing is a little rough, although it does seem to have a stream of conscience style.

( Posted by: brickhouse [Member] On: April 26, 2005 )

I am a Filipino
I am a Filipino, proud to be one too. That our people should be seduced by the prospects in another land should not tear at your heart. Has not the same desires pushed the great explorers and discoverers of human history? Underneath the desire for the "mighty dollar" is the desire to help their families or to find a better place under the sun. It is difficult to explain to people that they should be content and satisfied when they do not have food or shelter or pride.

When we think about it, this is not only an issue of our country. I will go further by saying it is a world-wide concern. Our planet's resources are enough for everyone but why do we have people who still starve to death? We consume what we consume thinking we earned the right to do so. Do we even stop and realize that we consume more than we should? Will our planet's resources be enough for our greed and our belief that we deserve to use as much of it as we can?

Beyond the difficulties that we face and aside from the uncertain and possibly bleak future that awaits us, I am a Filipino and proud to be one. I try my best not to hurry and scurry. I like stopping every now and then to see the bright smiles of our people and notice the strong spirit inside us that pushes us to move on. Somehow, I know that our country will not be deserted.

But I will always wonder if humans will realize the consequences of our deeds. For one day, it is extinction not brain and brawn drain that will leave our lands empty.

( Posted by: maimai [Member] On: April 28, 2005 )

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