Instant Communication

‘Pinoy Connect’ by Jason Coates

The Filipino Connection

09 January – The pastoral text of Fr Reuter is this: Acceptance of others – regardless of their color or country, and whether they are rich or poor – is indispensable for lasting peace. – Benedict XVI. Easier said than done. But again, the Filipinos are probably the best example of a people who almost immediately accepts people of other colors or creeds or countries other than their own. And why is that? The Filipinos have been called running dogs of imperialists when they show respect to the Americans or British; why is it that they are not called names when they show respect to Pakistanis, Indonesians, Chinese, Malaysians, Koreans, Cambodians, Thais, Taiwanese, Indians, Arabs, Iraqis, even Japanese, their World War II enemies? But the Filipino also discriminates against other Filipinos whom they feel are beneath their own social or economic level, and the other tribes whom they feel are less civilized and/or less intelligent than their own tribe is. So don’t be surprised that we are much a divided country physically and socially. Even so, we have learned to live and let die.