by Den Concepcion
Three TV features recently caught my attention. First is the sudden proliferation of the so called tele-fanteserye. Second is the Pinoy Big Brother phenomenon. Third is the quest for the first Filipino to reach the summit of Mt. Everest. All three, it seem to me, is an indication of our national malady.      Escaping Reality
  
  I have always been of the notion that one of the Filipino's beloved virtues is also his undoing. We are known for being "matiisin". We boast about our resiliency, of managing a smile or even a laugh amidst adversity. We can make a joke even out of disasters that claim thousands of lives. Three hundred years of Spanish friars telling us to suffer on earth for eternal happiness in heaven does have a lasting effect on our genes. We became a nation of escapists.
  
  This is now more recently manifested in the many tele-fanteserye that dominates TV prime time. We marvel at how Darna can come from nowhere to solve the many problems of society. We wish we could be in Encantadia and join the fight between good and evil. Things would definitely be better if the Panday is around to vanquish all evil and save the princess in distress. We drown our own miseries in the fantasy world of make-believe. This is our world, a world of forced make-believe.
  
  Ask anyone how they are coping, and they will say "nakakatawa pa naman". Ask the man on the street what they think of the corruption in government and he will say "kahit sino naman maupo, gagawin din nila yun". Try confronting a jeepney driver who stops in the middle of the street to wait for and load passengers, and you will be dismissed with a "naghahanap-buhay lang naman". We live in a society with such a convoluted psyche yet we make ourselves believe that everything is okay. Our people live in hunger and poverty and we ask them to eat instant noodles. We live in our own tele-fanteserye.
  
  Looking in From the Outside
  
  We Pinoys are by nature "chimosos". Men would like to say that women are inherently "chismosas", but fail to admit that loose talks during drinking sessions, or even golf games, are 99% percent gossip most of the time. We love talking about lives, especially those of other people. Perhaps our own lives are in themselves uninteresting, and we find other people's lives more exciting. Thus the Pinoy Big Brother hoopla.
  
  I don't believe that people watching the show find themselves in the diverse characters in that house of mirrors. I tend to believe that we look at ourselves more as Big Brother – looking in from the outside. We would analyse people, discuss what they did wrong and what would we have done if we were in their place. We become numb to the implications of the actions of the people in the show as long as they entertain us. We have become desentized. We have lost our notions of what is right and wrong.
  
  When bad things around us happen, we shake our heads and say "malas nya". When a girl is raped, we say "siguro malandi". When a man is killed by a robber, we justify it with "mahirap kasi and buhay kaya kapit sa patalim". When the newspaper banners a news that a policeman has been ambushed, we readily dismissed him as a corrupt scroundrel who deserves his punishment. Malas lang nila! Then we go on with our lives.
  
  But things changed when we ourselves get involved. What if it is your father who got killed? What if that was your little princess of a daughter who got raped? Will you still be looking from the outside and shrugging your shoulder while reading the story on the tabloid's front page? Suddenly you become a passionate anti-crime advocate. You demonstrate on the street, lobby in congress, donate money in anti-crime cruzades – even funding vigilantes. Suddenly, you become involved.
  
  Do we then need to lose a loved one, or be victims ourselves to be pushed into active involvement? What will it take for us to stop looking in from the outside and really getting involved?
  
  Filipino Pride?
  
  After more than fifty years, I think it is but fair that a Filipino gets a crack at planting the national colors on the summit of Mt. Everest. But don't we all look stupid with two teams, each supported by the two rival TV networks, competing against each other for this honor? Both the "kapuso" and the "kapamilya" networks feign pure intentions of national pride with their respective quests. How can there be national pride when we try to outdo each other in an activity that could have been done together? Both networks lost the opportunity to show the nation that differences and competition can be set aside to achieve a common goal. Both claim doing it for Filipino Honor and Unity. I could cry laughing.
  
  Remember Aguinaldo and Bonifacio? Marcos and Aquino? Lapu-lapu and Humabon? Their rivalries all ended with the nation's tragedy.  It is sickening.
  
  Quo Vadis?
  
  What can be done? Or more precisely, what can WE do? Many suggestions, very good ones, have been put forward by well meaning people. In this group alone, Im sure there are many well-meaning Filipinos who are willing to start with themselves. My own humble opinion is to follow the principle of network marketing by encouraging exponential education. Let us start by educating ourselves. Then let us educate others, and encouarge them to eduacte others too. If you have time, volunteer to teach kids in school. It may be a struggle to educate the older populace, but the young can be very fertile ground for change. Let us get to them before the others do.
  
  One Filipino at a time, for every Filipino.