My friend's mother handed me a copy of Cebu Sunstar as soon as I put my backpack on the floor. I just came from an uneventful 12-hour boat trip that crossed the seas that divided the islands of the Visayas and Mindanao. Oh, Cebu! I never expected I'd come again in your arms this early. That was a week ago.
I was reading the newspaper when I almost spilt my coffee. A non-favorite american sitcom just insulted doctors produced by Philippine schools. I remembered my last blog entry ignoring (and I was even amused!) the statements of David Lettermen. The latest insult against the Philippines stunned me. As far as I know Filipino medical practitioners is one of the best in the world! I heard America prefered Philippine educated doctors, nurses and medical technologists over other foreign medical practitioners. The "joke" as many would want it to appear was so irresponsible and uncalled for. I'll never watch Desperate Housewives in my lifetime. I never finished an episode anyway...
And to add insult to injury, The Daily Show With John Stewart (another American TV Show) labeled former president Cory Aquino's picture as SLUT . My admiration for Cory has waned when she called on to President Gloria to make a supreme sacrifice by resigning from the presidency. But that does not changed history that she was instrumental in restoring democracy in the Philippines. My friend and I was so absorbed at our indignation that she turned to a different road not within our itinerary!
Diplomatic protests and apologies - would they be enough to restore a wounded national pride? When will we ever learn that for other country to respect us we need to respect our country first? How? Stop beating the redlight for Pete's sake. Stop the irresponsible disposal of garbage, etcetera, etcetera. We should stop making a fool out of ourselves as a people. We can compete side by side with those idiots! Manny Pacquiao just did it. Pacquiao did it without kissing any ass. He did it with discipline, courage and nationalism.
Someday, if we want, a Philippines widely respected the universewide is not impossible. Someday soon...if we want.
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