The national problem: We only see the trees

AS I WRECK THIS CHAIR

By William M. Esposo
Thursday, July 24, 2008

When the lost person in the middle of a very dangerous jungle can only see the trees in front of him — then the odds are against that person from ever getting to find the way home.

Having a sense of where one is located and what route will bring him to his objective is what strategic thinking is all about. Strategic thinking does not necessarily equate to the fastest and cheapest route, especially if that equates to the quickest route to doom or failure.

Strategic thinking is what will deliver ultimate victory regardless of the cost. And in life, great victories are attained with enormous prices to pay — the greater the plum the greater the resistance.

China is the best example of what strategic thinking coupled with the right tactical adjustments can do. It may have been in the era of Chairman Deng Xiaoping when China accomplished its economic boom but there is no denying that Chairman Mao's revolution, with all its bad marks, laid the foundation for what China enjoys today.

The Chinese economic miracle could not have been possible if they did not remove the warlords and democratized opportunity. Now, every Chinese has the opportunity to reach for the stars.

We Filipinos could only look up to the stars.

The Vietnamese are now starting to register their own successes in attracting foreign investors. They have been beating us in luring foreign investors, even tourists. However, the Vietnamese, as we all know, paid the stiff price to get to where they are now. Where they are now was paid with blood and lives — their struggle to be rid of foreign domination.

For us Filipinos, we are stuck in the muck because of these problems:

1. We can only see the trees and we don't have a sense of where we are. Thus, we can't develop our strategic route to the Promised Land.

2. We have displayed time and again the lack of courage and will to pay the stiff price in order to really be emancipated. Heck, we cannot even get ourselves to rally in order to demand transparency, truth, integrity from our rulers. Compare that to what the Chinese and Vietnamese had to pay to get to where they are.

3. We have not really evolved yet into a nation. We only pretend to be one. For most Filipinos, they feel attached to their tribe. They are Cebuanos, Ilocanos, Warays and so forth — rarely Filipinos.

4. We are easily divided and thus prone to foreign domination. Not only that, we are plagued with an unusual infestation of Quislings and they proliferate in every generation.

5. Being a weak nation, we have a tendency to be distracted by the most insignificant matters and we seem unable to recognize the essential. Some people here posture to teach history and yet miss out on the biggest unexplained aspect of our history — continued foreign domination since 1521!

Filipinos should draw inspiration from the Vietnamese and how they removed the meddling tentacles of France and the US in their national affairs. They fought the two world powers and won. Now, they are treated with respect by their former enemies while we continue to be looked down upon and manipulated by our so-called "friend" — the US.

Because the Vietnamese asserted their sovereignty, the US now treats them with respect that is rightly due a former foe that vanquished them. Because Filipinos are ever too willing to sell themselves cheap, we continue to be treated as harlots.

You may be praised every now and then — condescension actually, the way Bush praised Gloria Macapagal Arroyo recently — then wined and dined in fancy restaurants or maybe even given a pricey car. But if all that is just the price for your purity, then you're really nothing but a harlot.

Like a dyed-in-the-wool harlot, Filipinos are now shifting from one keeper to another, from US domination to Chinese domination.

The leaders know it but willingly submit to it. Their rationale at best is that of allowing themselves to be a prostitute in order to feed their children. But we all know that is nothing but a lie, an excuse to be a Quisling that is personally benefiting from the rape of the country.

Most Filipinos don't know the historical truth, part of the effects of the information and education gaps I often talk about. Media hardly talks about it even when, in truth and in fact, it is the real core problem of the country. Our history courses are also not teaching the historical truth.

Per the eminent Prof. Manoling Yap, Webster defines an idiot as one who does not recognize and know the truth. For all the humbug and braggadocio we get, people forever pretending to be smart and in the know — what we truly have are lots of idiots.

But then again, if Filipinos knew the historical truth and recognized the real core problem of the country — do Filipinos have what it takes to do something about it?

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Chair Wrecker e-mail and website: macesposo@yahoo.com and www.chairwrecker.com