What it means to be Filipino.

A short story on the meaning of being a Filipino

WHAT IT MEANS TO BE FILIPINO

Do you love your country?

Would you be willing to die for it?

Are you proud of your nationality?

I'm convinced that most Filipino's feel apathetic towards their own nationality.

Having a raised flag is not an event to show national pride, instead it is a mere annoyance to most.

People are trying get somewhere and, in the Philippines, where some schools are directly next to national highways, people are already exasperated once the clock hits 7:30 am.

Once the flags are raised, the highway has to stop. Not out of respect, but out of habit.

It's just something you do.

People would often walk past as we sing the national anthem as if nothing is going on.

Students would shift their weight between one leg to the other as they sing, signalling boredom.

In the mass gathering of the school, you could count in both hands how many students have their hands on their hearts while singing the anthem.

To them, being a Filipino is not something to be proud of, it's just merely something you're called once you're born here.

But what does it truly mean to be Filipino? What defines the word? What makes someone say 'ah, that person right there, he's a Filipino'?

I remember riding a bus towards the capital of our island.

If you don't know, the Philippines is a country with over 7000 islands.

I live in the island they call The Negros Islands, which is divided into two parts, the Oriental and the Occidental.

I live in the Occidental part, which is to say, the western part.

The capital of this part is Bacolod, a good 45 kilometers from the town I live in.

Once I arrived at the terminal, the roads were lined with jeeps.

Barkers would signal you to ride the jeep that is nearing full so they could leave immediately and the next jeep could be filled too.

I rode the jeep going to school.

I noticed one thing while doing so.

How us, as Filipinos, are unconsciously helpful.

I sat at the back end of the jeep and had to pass my fare to the driver who was, obviously, at the front end.

I raised my hand and asked the person in front of me to pass my fare.

He took it without thinking and passed it to the person next to him until my fare reached the driver.

Not only that, every passenger did this small action until everyone has paid their fare.

This is a small act of cooperation and helpfulness, yet most people never even bat an eye at this.

Going home from school, I was met with the same situation. I handed my fare to the person next to me, he kept handing it to the person next to him till it reached the driver.

This small act of Filipino cooperativeness became more apparent once a limp man entered the jeep.

Suddenly, people at the back end of the jeep would move towards the front end to make space for the limp man so it's easier for him to enter, sit down, and exit.

It makes me smile each time I remember it.

The jeepney ride was over, and I arrived at the bus terminal. There was a bus waiting on the front of the terminal with my destination stuck as a placard on the windshield.

I entered the relatively empty bus.

Then I noticed the driver was still not here, yet the bus was idling.

15 minutes passed and the bus was jam packed.

I was sitting on the edge of a seat near the bus door so it would be easier for me to get off.

The driver arrived and so did the conductor.

The bus was so packed that the next person to enter would have to stand till their destination.

Unfortunately, the next person who entered was a frail elderly woman.

She looked back and forth inside the bus to see if there was still an empty seat left.

Seeing no seat left unoccupied, she began to exit the bus when I stood up and offered her my seat.

The bus went on its way just as she had seated properly.

I stood next to her, near the bus' door, grabbing the railing on the roof so I won't lose my balance.

When the conductor came to give me a ticket, I told him my destination.

The problem was, he was at the back of the bus giving other people tickets, and I was at the front, since the bus door was positioned near the front.

He ripped the ticket and tried to hand it to me, but the bus was jam packed with people we were basically a mobile sardine can.

Just then, someone who was standing in the bus with me took the ticket and handed it to me.

Again, another act of minute kindness and cooperation.

Just when I got my ticket, the elderly woman tugged at my uniform.

She asked me if I had already paid my fare.

I shook my head, no.

When the conductor arrived to ask for my fare, the elderly woman rummaged through her bag and bought out the exact amount of fare I needed.

She handed it to the conductor and told him that she was paying for me.

I tried to decline, but the conductor had already taken the money.

I asked her why she would do that and she simply explained this:

'I live in a city that's twice as far as your town. If you had not given up your seat I'd be standing there in your place with my weak, arthritis prone knees. Paying your fare is a small thanks.'

And she amazed me with her kindness, being so generous to a boy who just so happened to give up his seat for her.

And I thought to myself.

It's been an entire day of witnessing people being helpful and generous in small ways.

She's probably not thinking of how generous she is, but only that it is only fair for her to pay for my fare after I gave up my seat for her.

Then I realized it.

Filipinos are unconsciously helpful!

To the bystanders who would help a car whose tire blew in the middle of the road.

To the tricycle drivers who would not accept fare from people they knew.

To people who cross the street signal the cars to stop when children are around.

To street children who allow even rich teenagers to participate in their sidewalk basketball game, I finally realized it.

Filipinos are unconsciously helpful, kind and generous.

How did I not notice it will now?

How we Filipinos, after a calamity hits, we would mourn for a week yet pick ourselves back up a year later.

How we could laugh away national incidents as if they were nothing.

How we are so dangerously optimistic when nothing goes right.

When our government fails, each one compensates in his or her own way.

When the roads are bumpy, well, free roller coaster.

Sugarcane fields? You mean hide-and-seek playground.

We Filipinos are unconsciously optimistic, kind and generous, even when it doesn't seem like it at first.

You'd see it in our lifestyle, in our everyday activities, when you're walking the street or looking out the bus window.

You'd see what makes a Filipino a Filipino.

The individual Filipino helping society move forward in a gesture that can be as small as helping one's fare reach the driver.

We might not show enormous pride of our origins, of our heroes and our anthem, but we show our being Filipino everyday.

This is what it means to be a Filipino.

Reviews

[Agyani]

Hey Matthew
My, this is a nice way to tell us about your country! You are quite right in saying that standing and singing the national anthem when the flag is raised is not essentially a sign of pride for the motherland. It is a habit we all follow, something that unites people all over the world. But patriotism of the common man can only be measured when things go wrong. Just like courage is only evident when one decides to risk something for a reason.
As for your informative story about Filipinos, I'm glad to have read it. A cynic (or maybe I should rather just say skeptic) would say that the elderly woman who paid for you was exceptionally kind and not a good example to generalize things. But what you depicted through the bus fare incidents shows a way of life that has kindness and trust at its centre. I have seen communities with such a mindset and way of life. Sri Lankans, for example, are some of the kindest and most helpful people you would come across.
So I'm glad to have read this piece about the nature of a Filipino.
Thanks for sharing this! :D