BY ROMMEL YNION
LOS ANGELES – Every time I meet Filipinos here in America, I can see that they are more optimistic than their countrymen, always in the mood of anticipation of greater things to come that will make them prosper no end, enabling them to live the American Dream and at same time send their hard-earned dollars to their families back home.
What makes our countrymen here more hopeful than us? Now, that is the question over which I wracked my brain only to end up with more questions than answers. But since speech is the index of our minds, I always analyze how Filipinos here think by observing how they speak. And based on these alone, I can, at least, figure out something.
Sociologists simply call this “culture” which is nothing but the collective way of thinking in a society or simply in just an ordinary group of people. For example, by observing how Filipinos here speak, I can conclude, more or less, what their collective attitude is, what makes them tick, so to speak.
After years of my intermittent sojourn around America to observe Filipinos, I have only made a singular conclusion that the can-do American spirit permeating the air of every nook and cranny of this divinely-blessed land has drenched the minds of our countrymen, turning them into what reminds me of “energizers”.
Equipped with their culturally acquired can-do attitude, Filipinos here epitomize inexhaustible reservoir of energy the likes of which has never dawned on us back home, juggling full-time jobs and part-time jobs in between them day in and day out, year in and year out, unmindful of the repercussions of all these on their health.
Where did they get all this energy? Ah, this one is quite easy. That is the power of hope which electrifies individuals to strive for excellence, always extending their reach beyond their grasp to grow, to prosper, to exceed even the limits of their imagination. For hope creates an environment of possibilities which keep the human spirit receptive to opportunities that make life worth living.
And this is what America provides its citizens: Hope. In his best-selling book, “The Audacity of Hope”, which catapulted him to the presidency of the United States, Barrack Obama underscored that he owed his rise to the top of the political totem pole of American politics to nothing but hope that motivated even black Americans like him to rise above mediocrity and even excel beyond their imagination not on the basis of the color of their skin but of the substance of their minds.
Filipinos here have now become heirs of that hope bequeathed to all Americans by no less than their Founding Fathers who ensured the eternal survival of an America built simply on the “proposition that all men are created equal”. For equality, especially in terms of the rights of any citizen to strive to be whatever he wants, has defined the audacity of hope.
Filipinos then must not squander this inheritance, particularly this can-do spirit which seems to be sadly misplaced in their lives. By juggling full-time jobs and keeping odd-jobs in between them, they have only become slaves of the American system instead of being the masters of it. They must not only become good employees but also entrepreneurs who will create more wealth not only for America but also for their families back home.
Entrepreneurism is still the only path to financial independence. Not employment. Filipinos here must realize that they spend the same amount of time and energy both in success and failure, in business and in their back-breaking jobs. They must use their inexhaustible reservoir of energy borne out of the culture of hope here in America to become creators of wealth and builders of empires instead of just working as drivers, caregivers and nurses at the feet of their “masters”.
No doubt, Filipinos here in America have been bitten by the can-do bug and now, with their can-do spirit permeating every molecule of their existence but sadly misplaced, they must examine themselves and the roads they have chosen to travel. For after all, it is never too late to learn especially lessons that will help us avoid becoming slaves of man’s greatest inventions: time and money./PN
