resilience

Mons Tantoco’s Philstar column this Sunday is just so overwhelming. She interviewed foreigners who have been living or have lived in the country and asked what they like most about us Filipinos.

She spoke to ambassadors from Britain, Israel, Pakistan, Mexico, New Zealand and Sweden, and the General Manager of Shangri-La Mactan. They almost come up with a consensus in saying that Filipinos are generally jolly people, hospitable, always come with a ready smile, optimistic and resilient.

Resilient. I like that.

It only goes to show that Filipinos easily adapt to the environment or situation they are in. Most of the time, the Philippines undergoes tough times, economically and politically speaking. It’s a way of life for us. I mean, we never fail to appear in the Top 3 most corrupt government every time they conduct surveys against our neighboring countries. This scares the hell out of foreign investors, thus pulling down our economic ratings. Not only that, kidnappings and other forms of destabilization proliferate in our motherland. Wherever you look, you can see families living below the poverty line. What’s sad is that they continue producing offspring without having means to fend for them, let alone send them to school.

Inspite of it all, we face each and every day with our heads held up high, thanking and praising the good Lord above, and telling ourselves “kaya ko to.” Hey, we don’t have perfect lives, nobody has, but we are still indeed blessed. Favorite pa rin tayo ni God. He blessed us with so much strength for us to continually fight our daily battles.

I just hope we Filipinos don’t just give up on ourselves just yet.

There’s still hope.

Have faith.

And act… FAST