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By Mendy Amandoron
Young Voices Speak contributor
“Crime is common, logic is rare,” a famous line from the legendary fictional detective, Sherlock Holmes. This line metaphorically embodies the society we’re living in today.
Crimes, poverty, and extreme devastation – the world has been facing these for the last decade.
The Philippines is no exception. The numerous casualties borne by these incidents have started to enter the lives of every Filipino. Sadly, most Filipinos tend to blame one another rather than to take responsibility.
So what can one do to change the perception of the majority Filipinos? Is there any chance for a change in this world of calamities?
The true test of any initiative for change is whether it can induce Filipinos to move away from certain dysfunctional behaviors found in our culture and society. Regardless of who the president is, no leader can prosper when the followers refuse to obey and believe. It is true that everyone’s entitled to their own opinion and by having the freedom to express one’s thoughts, everyone wants to be heard but no one wants to listen.
In the local movie Heneral Luna, the title character recites ”It is easier to unite heaven and earth than it is to get Filipinos to agree.”
“Me-first”
The Philippines is a “Me First” society; everyone wants to be on top. Putting anything or anyone else on top of their own needs essentially gives them the feeling of being taken advantage of, or cheated. Moving on from one’s loss is a no-no.
One can see this in our political scene for the longest time. Rather than getting to the mundane task of building a nation together, Filipinos would rather stew in the past. If their candidate won, they become sore winners; they just can’t stop gloating, and they assume that just because their side won, then they don’t have to win their non-allies over, that they will just bend over and obey. If their candidates lost, there is no moving on from that. They focus their energies instead, on waiting for the winner to make a mistake, so that they can pounce on it.
Inability to accept criticism
Unfortunately, Filipinos combine this behavior with an inability to accept valid criticism, and an inability to see past personalities, and taking sides.
Victim mentality
The other side of the coin is that Filipinos almost always approach everything with a victim mentality. They want to use the pity card – something that works with bleeding heart liberals – in order to get something without really having to work for it. It’s actually very easy – almost second nature – for Filipinos to be guided by emotion, and put on the sob stories, however fabricated or not in order to get what they want.
“Crime is common, logic is rare.”, indeed it is here in the Philippines, where everyone acts blameless despite the crimes that they have committed and the only way to rise above this agonizing Filipino behavior is if one would start being more objective rather than subjective.
To conclude, what we Filipinos need is a healthy dose of common sense.
(Edited by Jay Paul Carlos, graphics by Erdy Peletina)