pinag-aralan namin ito sa socsci 1 kay ma'am sarah at feel ko lang siyang ibahagi sa inyo ang dalawang pananaw sa Pinoy Diaspora: isang mula kay Patricia Evangelista (speech comm major) at kay E. San Juan, isang kilalang manunulat ng "kritikal" na perspektiba.
_______________________________________________
Blond and Blue Eyes
By Patricia Evangelista
When I was little, I wanted what many Filipino children all over the country wanted. I wanted to be blond, blue-eyed, and white.
I thought -- if I just wished hard enough and was good enough, I'd wake up on Christmas morning with snow outside my window and freckles across my nose!
More than four centuries under western domination does that to you.
I have sixteen cousins. In a couple of years, there will just be five of us left in the Philippines, the rest will have gone abroad in search of “greener pastures.” It's not just an anomaly; it's a trend; the Filipino diaspora.
Today, about eight million Filipinos are scattered around the world.
There are those who disapprove of Filipinos who choose to leave. I used to. Maybe this is a natural reaction of someone who was left behind, smiling for family pictures that get emptier with each succeeding year. Desertion, I called it.
My country is a land that has perpetually fought for the freedom to be itself. Our heroes offered their lives in the struggle against the Spanish, the Japanese, the Americans. To pack up and deny that identity is tantamount to spitting on that sacrifice.
Or is it? I don't think so, not anymore.
True, there is no denying this phenomenon, aided by the fact that what was once the other side of the world is now a twelve-hour plane ride away. But this is a borderless world, where no individual can claim to be purely from where he is now.
My mother is of Chinese descent, my father is a quarter Spanish, and I call myself a pure Filipino -- a hybrid of sorts resulting from a combination of cultures.
Each square mile anywhere in the world is made up of people of different ethnicities, with national identities and individual personalities. Because of this, each square mile is already a microcosm of the world. In as much as this blessed spot that is England is the world, so is my neighborhood back home.
Seen this way, the Filipino Diaspora, or any sort of dispersal of populations, is not as ominous as so many claim. It must be understood.
I come from a Third World country, one that is still trying mightily to get back on its feet after many years of dictatorship. But we shall make it, given more time. Especially now, when we have thousands of eager young minds who graduate from college every year. They have skills. They need jobs. We cannot absorb them all.
A borderless world presents a bigger opportunity, yet one that is not so much abandonment but an extension of identity. Even as we take, we give back. We are the 40,000 skilled nurses who support the UK's National Health Service. We are the quarter-of-a-million seafarers manning most of the world's commercial ships. We are your software engineers in Ireland, your construction workers in the Middle East, your doctors and caregivers in North America, and, your musical artists in London's West End.
Nationalism isn't bound by time or place. People from other nations migrate to create new nations, yet still remain essentially who they are. British society is itself an example of a multi-cultural nation, a melting pot of races, religions, arts and cultures. We are, indeed, in a borderless world!
Leaving sometimes isn't a matter of choice. It's coming back that is. The Hobbits of the shire travelled all over Middle-Earth, but they chose to come home, richer in every sense of the word.
We call people like these balikbayans or the 'returnees' -- those who followed their dream, yet choose to return and share their mature talents and good fortune.
In a few years, I may take advantage of whatever opportunities come my way. But I will come home. A borderless world doesn't preclude the idea of a home. I'm a Filipino, and I'll always be one. It isn't about just geography; it isn't about boundaries. It's about giving back to the country that shaped me.
And that's going to be more important to me than seeing snow outside my windows on a bright Christmas morning.
Mabuhay. And thank you.
__________________
Tenk Yu Beri Mats
NI E. SAN JUAN, JR
Nang manalo si Patricia Evangelista sa English-Speaking Union kontest
Nagdiwang ang barkada ng mga elitistang patakbuhing sipsip sa padrino
Biro mo, pers prays sa pag-ayaw sa “blond and blue eyes”—di biro ‘yan
Tayong kasama sa 8 milyong diyaspora—dapat daw magselebreyt din
Bakit kung wala namang diperensiya kung saan ka nanggaling o tutungo
“Borderless world” na raw kaya dini o doon/abrod o “at home” pareho lang iyan
Tenk yu beri mats!
Kahit saan ka naroroon, sabi mo, nasa ‘Pinas ka pa rin nagpapalamig sa Jollibee
Sakay lang sa eruplano’t nasa Roma Los Angeles Tokyo Baghdad ka na
Sabagay di engineer o nars kundi d.h. “mail-order bride” o sinindikatong puta
Umalis ka man o hindi, pasok o labas, migrante’y lumubog-lumutang kung suwerte
Nasa Payatas ka man ang Lea Salonga’y puwedeng maging Miss Saigon
Puwedeng maging nars ang doktor o domestik ang titser salamat sa globalisasyon
Tenk yu beri mats!
Pero Inday, libre na bang lahat sa supermall? wala nang uri o paghahati-hati?
Halu-halo na ba ang mga puting burgesya sa UK Europa at Norte Amerika?
Paano ang mga “homeless” mga bilanggo mga beteranong Pinoy na nalimutan na?
Pagdating mo sa “melting pot” idilat mo lang ang singkit mong mata
Bida mo’y haluan kang “hybrid” Kastila’t Intsik-- tatak mestisang Pinay pa rin!
Lumingon sa pinanggalingan para maibukod sa iba pero walang dilihensiya doon
Tenk yu beri mats!
Kongratyulasyon at salamat sa mga puting nag-patronays sa pabonggang promo
Siguradong may “offer” ka na sapagkat kailangan ng burgesya ang ilusyong ito
Tutal sa bayan ng kurakot at trapo, napakamura’t bulgar na ang nasyonalismo
Uuwi ka pa ba e bakit pa kung wala namang diperensiya--nakalimutan mo na ba?
Kahit polluted na’t nagbabaha ‘white X’mas” pa rin sa bakuran kapag Pasko
Kahit maniwala sa sabi, walang bait sa sarili, di bale basta may pera’t premyo
Tenk yu beri mats!
Mabuhay ka, Patricia, balikbayan ka na rin pero hanggang dito na lamang ba tayo?
“Bagong bayani” ng imperyong bumitay kina Flor Contemplacion Maricris Sioson
Yumari ng preso sa Guantanamo, namalimos kay Bush, naglinis sa Abu Ghraib
Tenk yu beri mats!
_______________________________________________
Blond and Blue Eyes
By Patricia Evangelista
When I was little, I wanted what many Filipino children all over the country wanted. I wanted to be blond, blue-eyed, and white.
I thought -- if I just wished hard enough and was good enough, I'd wake up on Christmas morning with snow outside my window and freckles across my nose!
More than four centuries under western domination does that to you.
I have sixteen cousins. In a couple of years, there will just be five of us left in the Philippines, the rest will have gone abroad in search of “greener pastures.” It's not just an anomaly; it's a trend; the Filipino diaspora.
Today, about eight million Filipinos are scattered around the world.
There are those who disapprove of Filipinos who choose to leave. I used to. Maybe this is a natural reaction of someone who was left behind, smiling for family pictures that get emptier with each succeeding year. Desertion, I called it.
My country is a land that has perpetually fought for the freedom to be itself. Our heroes offered their lives in the struggle against the Spanish, the Japanese, the Americans. To pack up and deny that identity is tantamount to spitting on that sacrifice.
Or is it? I don't think so, not anymore.
True, there is no denying this phenomenon, aided by the fact that what was once the other side of the world is now a twelve-hour plane ride away. But this is a borderless world, where no individual can claim to be purely from where he is now.
My mother is of Chinese descent, my father is a quarter Spanish, and I call myself a pure Filipino -- a hybrid of sorts resulting from a combination of cultures.
Each square mile anywhere in the world is made up of people of different ethnicities, with national identities and individual personalities. Because of this, each square mile is already a microcosm of the world. In as much as this blessed spot that is England is the world, so is my neighborhood back home.
Seen this way, the Filipino Diaspora, or any sort of dispersal of populations, is not as ominous as so many claim. It must be understood.
I come from a Third World country, one that is still trying mightily to get back on its feet after many years of dictatorship. But we shall make it, given more time. Especially now, when we have thousands of eager young minds who graduate from college every year. They have skills. They need jobs. We cannot absorb them all.
A borderless world presents a bigger opportunity, yet one that is not so much abandonment but an extension of identity. Even as we take, we give back. We are the 40,000 skilled nurses who support the UK's National Health Service. We are the quarter-of-a-million seafarers manning most of the world's commercial ships. We are your software engineers in Ireland, your construction workers in the Middle East, your doctors and caregivers in North America, and, your musical artists in London's West End.
Nationalism isn't bound by time or place. People from other nations migrate to create new nations, yet still remain essentially who they are. British society is itself an example of a multi-cultural nation, a melting pot of races, religions, arts and cultures. We are, indeed, in a borderless world!
Leaving sometimes isn't a matter of choice. It's coming back that is. The Hobbits of the shire travelled all over Middle-Earth, but they chose to come home, richer in every sense of the word.
We call people like these balikbayans or the 'returnees' -- those who followed their dream, yet choose to return and share their mature talents and good fortune.
In a few years, I may take advantage of whatever opportunities come my way. But I will come home. A borderless world doesn't preclude the idea of a home. I'm a Filipino, and I'll always be one. It isn't about just geography; it isn't about boundaries. It's about giving back to the country that shaped me.
And that's going to be more important to me than seeing snow outside my windows on a bright Christmas morning.
Mabuhay. And thank you.
__________________
Tenk Yu Beri Mats
NI E. SAN JUAN, JR
Nang manalo si Patricia Evangelista sa English-Speaking Union kontest
Nagdiwang ang barkada ng mga elitistang patakbuhing sipsip sa padrino
Biro mo, pers prays sa pag-ayaw sa “blond and blue eyes”—di biro ‘yan
Tayong kasama sa 8 milyong diyaspora—dapat daw magselebreyt din
Bakit kung wala namang diperensiya kung saan ka nanggaling o tutungo
“Borderless world” na raw kaya dini o doon/abrod o “at home” pareho lang iyan
Tenk yu beri mats!
Kahit saan ka naroroon, sabi mo, nasa ‘Pinas ka pa rin nagpapalamig sa Jollibee
Sakay lang sa eruplano’t nasa Roma Los Angeles Tokyo Baghdad ka na
Sabagay di engineer o nars kundi d.h. “mail-order bride” o sinindikatong puta
Umalis ka man o hindi, pasok o labas, migrante’y lumubog-lumutang kung suwerte
Nasa Payatas ka man ang Lea Salonga’y puwedeng maging Miss Saigon
Puwedeng maging nars ang doktor o domestik ang titser salamat sa globalisasyon
Tenk yu beri mats!
Pero Inday, libre na bang lahat sa supermall? wala nang uri o paghahati-hati?
Halu-halo na ba ang mga puting burgesya sa UK Europa at Norte Amerika?
Paano ang mga “homeless” mga bilanggo mga beteranong Pinoy na nalimutan na?
Pagdating mo sa “melting pot” idilat mo lang ang singkit mong mata
Bida mo’y haluan kang “hybrid” Kastila’t Intsik-- tatak mestisang Pinay pa rin!
Lumingon sa pinanggalingan para maibukod sa iba pero walang dilihensiya doon
Tenk yu beri mats!
Kongratyulasyon at salamat sa mga puting nag-patronays sa pabonggang promo
Siguradong may “offer” ka na sapagkat kailangan ng burgesya ang ilusyong ito
Tutal sa bayan ng kurakot at trapo, napakamura’t bulgar na ang nasyonalismo
Uuwi ka pa ba e bakit pa kung wala namang diperensiya--nakalimutan mo na ba?
Kahit polluted na’t nagbabaha ‘white X’mas” pa rin sa bakuran kapag Pasko
Kahit maniwala sa sabi, walang bait sa sarili, di bale basta may pera’t premyo
Tenk yu beri mats!
Mabuhay ka, Patricia, balikbayan ka na rin pero hanggang dito na lamang ba tayo?
“Bagong bayani” ng imperyong bumitay kina Flor Contemplacion Maricris Sioson
Yumari ng preso sa Guantanamo, namalimos kay Bush, naglinis sa Abu Ghraib
Tenk yu beri mats!
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