After Efren Penaflorida won the CNN "Hero of the Year Award" for his "pushcart classrooms" in 2009, another Filipino has won the award for 2011.
Robin Lim, a Filipino-American woman based in Indonesia, recently won the award for helping thousands of Indonesian women during their pregnancy and while giving birth. Known as "Mother Robin" or "Ibu Robin" to those she has helped, she set up her own clinics where she provides free medical services for poor, pregnant women in Indonesia.
As expected, this recognition of hers is now all over the news here in the Philippines--television, radio, newspapers, you name it. Don't get me wrong, I am happy for the award that she has received, knowing that she has worked really hard for it and that she sincerely wants to help those who are in need. However, this recognition of hers has opened up another opportunity for Filipino freeloaders, who I already have pointed out in a previous blog entry (see "Online Polls: Filipinos Love Abusing the Privilege" posted in September 2011).
"Galing ng Pinoy"? "Proud to be Filipino"? You cannot be serious.
As I have said over and over again, winning that award is her accomplishment, not of the entire country. Many poor Filipina women still go through pregnancy-related difficulties, and if these freeloaders say Filipinos are as good as they say we are, I don't think we would have the same problem over here. But sadly, that isn't the case. Filipina women die on a daily basis due to pregnancy or childbirth-related complications, and unless Filipinos stop this useless freeloading and emo talk and actually take action to improve themselves, the numbers could steadily rise over the next few years.
Must we really waste time basking in another's glory? At the end of the day, after we have claimed Miss Lim (and so many other internationally-recognized Filipinos like Maria Aragon, Charice, Apl.de.ap, or Arnel Pineda) as one of our own and proudly claiming that the Filipinos are a gift from God (which I don't necessarily believe in, mind you), the Philippines is still the same f*cked up country that we all know. While these internationally-acclaimed Filipinos live their own comfortable lives (as a result of THEIR hardwork and dedication), the freeloading people (most particularly the masa or masses) back here continue to live in poverty, as they still continue to waste precious time with all this "Proud to be Filipino" nonsense. Just ponder on this--where is this freeloading taking us? How will all this help solve our country's problems? Will claiming another's accomplishments as our own (without doing anything ourselves) help improve the current situation? Taking action is the key here--unfortunately, so many people are still not getting it.
The UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, is Korean--but we never really seem to hear the Koreans saying "Koreans are amazing" or "Koreans are intelligent, that's why a Korean was appointed as the UN Secretary-General", don't we? Look where Korea is now--a global superpower with hardworking, determined people who have worked together to bring make Korea (a once-impoverished nation) into a global economic superpower. If a Filipino were to be appointed to this position, the rest of the world would never hear the end of it. People would go "Filipinos are trustworthy or responsible, that is why a Filipino was appointed" left and right. Never mind if the previous Secretary-Generals were Korean or African (as Kofi Annan, who was Secretary-General before Ban Ki-moon, was).
I wish this would stop, as this is giving our country a bad impression. The rest of the world seeing many Filipinos going crazy over something as mundane as a Filipino singer performing on an American TV show isn't really something to be happy about. It just shows how shallow many Filipinos actually are.
For as long as many Filipinos keep up this attitude, our country wouldn't be headed anywhere that is good. I know some people may say that I'm not being nationalistic enough, but au contraire, I actually am. I have chosen to rid myself of this trait that isn't getting our country anywhere. Have you?
Must we really waste time basking in another's glory? At the end of the day, after we have claimed Miss Lim (and so many other internationally-recognized Filipinos like Maria Aragon, Charice, Apl.de.ap, or Arnel Pineda) as one of our own and proudly claiming that the Filipinos are a gift from God (which I don't necessarily believe in, mind you), the Philippines is still the same f*cked up country that we all know. While these internationally-acclaimed Filipinos live their own comfortable lives (as a result of THEIR hardwork and dedication), the freeloading people (most particularly the masa or masses) back here continue to live in poverty, as they still continue to waste precious time with all this "Proud to be Filipino" nonsense. Just ponder on this--where is this freeloading taking us? How will all this help solve our country's problems? Will claiming another's accomplishments as our own (without doing anything ourselves) help improve the current situation? Taking action is the key here--unfortunately, so many people are still not getting it.
The UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, is Korean--but we never really seem to hear the Koreans saying "Koreans are amazing" or "Koreans are intelligent, that's why a Korean was appointed as the UN Secretary-General", don't we? Look where Korea is now--a global superpower with hardworking, determined people who have worked together to bring make Korea (a once-impoverished nation) into a global economic superpower. If a Filipino were to be appointed to this position, the rest of the world would never hear the end of it. People would go "Filipinos are trustworthy or responsible, that is why a Filipino was appointed" left and right. Never mind if the previous Secretary-Generals were Korean or African (as Kofi Annan, who was Secretary-General before Ban Ki-moon, was).
I wish this would stop, as this is giving our country a bad impression. The rest of the world seeing many Filipinos going crazy over something as mundane as a Filipino singer performing on an American TV show isn't really something to be happy about. It just shows how shallow many Filipinos actually are.
For as long as many Filipinos keep up this attitude, our country wouldn't be headed anywhere that is good. I know some people may say that I'm not being nationalistic enough, but au contraire, I actually am. I have chosen to rid myself of this trait that isn't getting our country anywhere. Have you?
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