Bird's Nest and Durian
Posted by
e-souled
under
America,
Arts,
Bird's Nest,
CCP,
China,
Dictionary,
Durian,
Oxford,
Philippines
I cant help my self but to have hope every time I visited a blog or a site of a Filipino working or studying abroad but yet still proud of her country! Like “Cat’s Walks” who’s living and working in Switzerland.
How many Filipinos will say the same thing:
“I have embraced European culture without losing and being ashamed of my own …I will always be proud of being Filipino and I will always promote the Philippines and our culture. I hope that someday more Filipinos will do the same.”
Check the original source here: www.catswalk.com
I’m suppose to post this article next week but I can’t help my self but to post it now as my way of appreciation and gratitude to her for loving our country kahit nasa lugar sya ng mga banyaga!
What is so special about Beijing Olympic? What is so special about the Bird’s Nest? America has at least 7 stadiums that are as big as or bigger than the Bird’s Nest.
Like what they’re saying,
What makes Bird’s Nest so unique is not the size but its Chinese identity. It is not European, it is not American… It is Chinese! Bird’s Nest is a Chinese soup delicacy, which costs at least $30 a cup. It is created by a certain species of bird that creates a nest with its saliva. What is amazing is HOW FAR and HOW GRAND the Chinese can attach meaning to something as ordinary as soup. It’s like creating a stadium and then call it “Sapin-sapin” or “Burong Talangka.” But no brilliant Pinoy architect has ever risen to promote our indigenous culture and express it NOT with “barriotic-ness,” but with a jaw-dropping, state-of-the-art facility like the Bird’s Nest.
The names of our stadiums are bereft of meaning and creativity: ULTRA, AMORANTO, ARANETA… Our theatres, convention centers are also meaningless: CCP, MERALCO, METROPOLITAN, FOLK ARTS, PICC. There is one theatre named in Tagalog, Lisa Makuha’s ALIW theatre. But just the same, no national identity. Just cute names.
Singapore’s Esplanade whose design was taken from a popular fruit among the Singaporeans—with the best varieties in fact, being grown in the Philippines (Davao): the odorous Durian. In the Philippines, Durian is considered the king of the fruits (Arancillo and Native are the best! How about Durian coffee? I love the taste) But to Singapore, Durian is an icon of culture, progress, civilization. Same with Bird’s Nest, it is so symbolic of Chinese culture.
F. Sionil Jose was right: “We are poor because we are poor.” There is a greater poverty that inflicts us, and it is the poverty of the soul. Let’s not be surprised if the Oxford Greek Dictionary today defines the word “Filipina” as “domestic helper.” As Jose Rizal sharply pointed: “There are no tyrants where there are no slaves.” We cannot find the Dragon in us, because we think like slaves and therefore we are treated as one. Sikat tayo kapag halukikip tayo ng puti. Hindi tayo makatayo sa sarili nating mga paa—lagi na lang tayong nakasabit sa laylayan ng mga banyaga. We cannot have the will to empire because we are contented with dole-outs and free-loads. Mahirap makahanap ng dragon sa Pilipinas.
Posts
3 comments:
Powerful words. From what I've seen and read on the web Filipinos have much to be proud of, and they, themselves, appear to be your country's greatest asset.
Thanks a lot Heather! i know that as a country we are still very young compared to other countries in terms of nationhood! our past generations and my generation already failed our country. we need to raise up new generations who understand the sense of history of our country.
I love my country, but not uncritically,i believe in nationalism, but not false nationalism!
And I agree with Barth Suretsky in saying that;
“The basic problem seems to me, after many years of observation, to be a national inferiority complex, a disturbing lack of pride in being Filipino.
Maybe it will sound simplistic, but…it is my unshakable belief that the fundamental thing wrong with this country is a lack of pride in being Filipino.
It is an oversimplification to say this, but it is not without a grain of truth to say that Filipinos feel downtrodden because they allow themselves to feel downtrodden. No pride.
However, the most shocking aspect of this lack of national pride, even identity, endemic in the average Filipino, is the appalling ignorance of the history of the archipelago since unified by Spain and named Filipinas. The remarkable stories concerning the Galleon de Manila, the courageous repulsion of Dutch and British invaders from the 16th through the 18th centuries, even the origins of the independence movement of the late 19th century, are hardly known by the average Filipino in any meaningful way. And thanks to fifty years of American brainwashing, it is few and far between the number of Filipinos who really know - or even care - about the duplicity employed by the Americans and Spaniards to sell out and make meaningless the very independent state that Aguinaldo declared on June 12, 1898.
A people without a sense of history is a people doomed to be unaware of their own identity. It is sad to say, but true, that the vast majority of Filipinos fall into this lamentable category. Without a sense of who you are how can you possibly take any pride in who you are?
These are not oversimplifications. On the contrary, these are the root problems of the Philippine inferiority complex referred to above. Until the Filipino takes pride in being Filipino these ills of the soul will never be cured.
Until the Filipino takes pride in being Filipino these ills of the soul will never be cured. If what I have written here can help, even in the smallest way, to make the Filipino aware of just who he is, who he was, and who he can be, I will be one happy expat indeed!"
Barth Suretsky was an American ex-pat who, after several visits in the Philippines since 1982 and immersing himself in the history and culture of the archipelago, decided to live permanently in the country in 1998 as he fell in love with the country. He died in 2001 and left a lamenting article about his thoughts on the root cause of the problems in our country.
Hi e-souled,
I agree with you completely!
While talking with my mom a few months ago, I was shocked to hear that she thought that it was the Americans who liberated us from Spain. She is also very typical in thinking that Philippine products are low quality etc. etc...I guess maybe even a few years ago I was like her (except I know about the liberation part).
Unfortunately, I think the majority of the population doesn't even realize how deep their inferiority complex is.