small-mindedness

maybe it's because we live in separate islands that we have become small minded. we may be one nation but still, we are separated in many things (but such is an individual, right?). anyway, i was just thinking that when i was in the PS, i met some people there who are very tolerant of different people of different nationalities. maybe it was just me or maybe it was just that we have never been really exposed to that kind of 'people movement.' for example, in mainland asia, people from malaysia can cross the border everyday for work. they only need a card to prove that they work in their neighboring country and they have privileges almost the same as the citizens of that country. here, we don't have the concept of a working card, or daily crossings of country borders. we may have communities of different races/nationalities here, too, but maybe it is just me but it seems that we stick to our own.

the other day, when i was in line at the grocery counter, i noticed that the girl in front of me was caucasian. and here i was, being a racist (forgive me), thinking that these people earn more than the average pinoy (hmmm again, it all boils down to finances?! sad!) and here they are, getting special treatments. shouldn't we be the first class citizens in our own country? wala lang. that has been my sentiment all along. but i was put in my place a while later when i heard the girl speak in tagalog. truly, she is pinay as i am. she just have a different color from me and i was reminded of what my teacher once said: we are just the same. we may be of different color but we feel the same things, we do the same things, we love, we hate. we are just the same. yes, at that instant, i was small-minded and it hurts to realize it.

funny, just thinking about it made me realize that even to our own countrymen, we are small-minded people. some may make fun or get irritated of the visayan accent, the hard way an ilocano says a word or their miserliness, or a kapampangan's arrogance!

it must be nice to live in a place where countries adjoin each other and it's only a car or train ride away. here, the only thing i can see that i could even say was an effort to connect the country was the leyte bridge. i guess we should just overcome this little problem in our country. at least, we have the roro and cebu pacific (it's time every juan flies!) to help us experience our beloved pinas! we may not have straight roads to lead us somewhere else nor trains, but there are other ways. now... if only we have enough money! (who said the filipinos are poor? just go to the malls everyday and you'll really wonder if it's true. maybe the problem lies not really on the lack of money but in the lack of contentment in one's life!).

i hope in the end, we will overcome our small-mindedness and think big! the world is getting smaller and smaller everyday. everyday, barriers in the world are broken and we should be prepared by it.