A Big (Wind) Blow
On the one hand I feel it inappropriate. On the other hand I feel a certain sense of reverse superiority upon hearing the difficulties that the U.S. government and the people in Katrina-stricken states are experiencing. Hearing them Americans whine made me realize how spoiled these people are—they’re so used to living in first-world comfort, they’ve become paralyzed when the hurricane struck. Unlike us Filipinos in our ratty third-world country, we’ve become so resilient in the face of typhoons, earthquakes, Pinatubo eruptions, and a progression of presidential pull-me-downs via people power.
It’s weird to feel proud that we Filipinos are masters at making do and bouncing back from hell. Can’t we experience heaven—or at least a decently working government—for once?
P.S. – Predictably al Qaeda released a statement saying Hurricane Katrina is the “wrath of God”. Yeah right, and the Asian tsunami was Allah’s first-strike against predominantly Muslim Asian countries.
It’s weird to feel proud that we Filipinos are masters at making do and bouncing back from hell. Can’t we experience heaven—or at least a decently working government—for once?
P.S. – Predictably al Qaeda released a statement saying Hurricane Katrina is the “wrath of God”. Yeah right, and the Asian tsunami was Allah’s first-strike against predominantly Muslim Asian countries.
posted by joelmcvie at 12:14 PM
8 Comments:
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"Spoiled" in the context of your post is a relative term, and not necessarily bad, because it simply indicates a higher standard of living. By that measure, Filipinos in the Philippines are also spoiled, when the point of reference is a country that is poorer.
Yes you're right, "spoiled" is a relative term, with Americans being more "spoiled" relative to Filipinos.
That's why my point about how Filipinos are "resilient" is actually both a compliment and a dig at us Filipinos--compliment because we can easily bounce back, but a dig because "resiliency" becomes a euphemism for "sanay maging mahirap", or in other words, "mga dukha!"
Ang nakakataas ng kilay pa dito ay magdodonate pa ang Pilipinas ng pera para sa hurricane victims. Wala na ngang pera ang Pinas, magdo-donate pa. :(
Kung minsan nakaka-aliw din mag-isip ang mga Muslim, 'no?
nobody can beat us in terms of pagtitiis. ive been witness to many calamities in the past, been witness to katrina too. pinoys always find a way to smile.
i tried to place my long, sensible, serious comment this morning but for some reasons, i couldn't post it. i lost the comment :( i'm too duped to retype it. anyway, good stuff here.
SAINT EROICA: Sorry to hear about your long-lost comment (parang long-lost sibling or something...). Was it the word verification step that threw you off?
Sorry to impose that step, but I've been getting spam comments lately, and I really, really hate them.
i did follow the verification step... and the comment i made was lost... it's ok... c u around!
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