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Lamentations of a Returning Filipino
By Joel | May 8, 2009
First of all, I would like to say that I am really thrilled to be back home, spend time with my family, talk to old friends, be with the rest of the family and even speak my own mother tongue. It is also great to be able to accomplish bit by bit my primary reason for going back to the Philippines, which would be rather complex and uncalled for in this setting.
In spite of all these wonderful things, I cannot help but be so annoyed, frustrated and heavily weighed down by how static, backwards and lethargic my environment here is. Time is so slow, everything is dependent on the traffic and the TV is saturated with shows that are simply stupid that I would dare is an insult to mental capacity of Filipinos. And if you haven’t gotten it yet, yes, I am complaining about this society which I thought would have evolved after three years, but hardly did.
Am I being just a spoiled Filipino brat who had been pampered in the States and is now complaining just because? I thought of this question a lot during breakfast and I came to the honest conclusion that I am not. I whine because I have seen things that are so much better and I complain to get people thinking that we deserve better things. I refuse to accept the status quo here in the Philippines and I call for action!
Let this be my first call Canisius students and I hope that you would all hear me. Our calling is to serve others even those outside our immediate community and such a call is not limited to community days or other service trips we do. We are called to be beacons to the lives of others and whether they are Filipino, American or other nationality, our calling remains that we take care of the person and give him or her whatever he or she is due as an individual. You may be wondering what we can do at this point. Well, I simply call you to keep these in mind and stay passionate about them. Our time will come and I hope we are all ready then to tackle and solve the issues that have long denied the citizens of this world a respectable lifestyle.
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