the (wo)man who cant be moved...

I bumped into this article and i realized that Iim not so into re-posting/re-blogging commentaries. I view that my head speaks of my own voice. And so to give credit to that provocation who caused this brain to be fueled, check this link:

http://misteravid.tumblr.com/ on his article: Oprah Site Denies Statement on Shamcey followed by Why We are Shallow.

Im replying on the latter where the original document can be read through this http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=726155&publicationSubCategoryId=79.

I must say that i agree. I dont read because I cand find something worth the time. The newspapers are mere instruments for skimming—so that i can skim through those i cant find in the internet. Aside from the usual typo and the unverified info that you will encounter every now and then, reading or listening to our media is more often than not, frustrating.

And I am replying by this post because I also agree that good people are silent and by this we become shallow. We look at intellect as arrogance and we value school badly as it also serves us poorly.

I may not be a bookworm and the most well-versed person here. But I dont want to belong to that group who remained deaf despite given a golden voice.

Today I battled with myself on staying calm and taking the fire.

Water is needed here.

I was reprimanded in the office for the report presented to our management with a false label in one of the figures. Despite the best efforts to triple check and re-check it, there were still many erroneous figures that slip through. I usually would quadruple check it for the lack of trust to people helping me do the report. Unfortunately, trusting people isnt really working for report i gave my boss.

We edited tons of items before the presentation and I guess when the Chief Financial Officer noticed one false figure, my boss didn’t enjoy it. So as directly receiving sh*t coming from him, I am now in the privilege space to absorb the frustration he have from a slight error that he could have also checked.

And there goes accountability. And my staff simply dismissed the error he did to the fault of computer which leaves me as the point-person. As in the one you point the blame on to.

So lets breathe this afternoon. Beautiful things happen every second now. I should find a way to make this pile of sh*t work for me…at least, even just today.

Today’s a little bit slow in the office so I decided to open news and threads to update my book after the busy month last August.

This link http://pinoyteens.net/james-soriano-article-manila-bulletin-deleted/6691/ I came across and then learned that it has been causing a fuss for the wrong reason in the internet.

Nevertheless, I find the topic worthwhile to comment and since it has been long since my last entry, here goes.

I have a few matters that I wish to expand in this article. If you find them boring, leave the page right away.

1. I would like to call the guy a kid.
2. I find his title inappropriate.
3. This kid is clueless but nevertheless, trying.
4. For a guy who was raised by too many tutors and bombarded with many western culture living amidst Filipino culture, I truly pity him. He must have a confusing life.

I am not being sarcastic. I can be but honestly, I dont have to. Our writer here seems to be (still) in the process of growing up. Ergo, a kid. Only a kid would PUBLISH an article that was very HONESTLY written. And what was the editor thinking? Does the world need an article like this? Obviously, they realized it a little bit late.

I would like to think that in this article, all the HONEST disregard of culture and respect was forgivable because he is a kid. 

Secondly, “Language, Learning, Identity, Privilege” as a title? This is no longer a work of a kid. A 13-year old student I am teaching could write a better, more appropriate title. Catchy but definitely confusing. His point was: he is confused, he needed someone to teach and explain how confused he is. Nothing more.

I hope he gets to read this because I would really love to teach him. That language is not merely a means of communication. Language is part of our identity. Whether or not he refuses to admit that he is a Filipino, he is not American or any Westerner. He even dared borrow Fr. Bulatao’s term and made it an excuse for is lack of awareness. Without language, any society or civilization would cease to exist. Language is not a privilege neither the utter expression of one’s disregard to culture. No one is ever privileged enough to do the latter.

Clueless. Id like to point in this section that, I was briefly in relief because I thought his article was directing towards a realization he recently experienced and how he was moved by it. But then…

My disappointment I guess springs from the fact that this kid writer seemed to be convinced of the importance of English and that Filipino is just some language you have to learn to function—a second rate language. But since he is a kid, I excuse his disregard for the culture. I am hopeful though that one day, a door would open to his “kamalayan” that Filipino language isnt all that.

Lastly, pity. I wish one day this kid would settle somewhere else where he could no longer boast around his lack of opportunity to converse in English. I could imagine him having a hard time talking to his family (in the province as he would stress it), his friends outside the classroom, the people working for him (his katulong and manong as he would again stress), the tinderos and tinderas who give him service, practically, the entire people around him! I bet they are pitying him for his lack of ability to connect and be part of the society where he lives.

I am wishing him to realize that knowing English isnt a privilege and being proficient at it is a burden. A burden because he was too clouded of his beginnings and how unlucky he is that is he disabled by the English language to go back to his rootedness. How he is now missing practically his life.

To close this article, allow me to correct. A person’s first study aids weren’t made of paper and aren’t called flashcards—it is composed of people working closely together to form what we now call SOCIETY. Our first teachers were the people around us. Our writer seemed to forget that since our memories can only be traced back until our 2nd year on Earth. This is true to all unless our kid writer was abducted by aliens and was held in captive in one room to converse only with his mom and his flashcards.

Correct me if I am wrong because I would love to be corrected and to learn. But I refuse to boast that my lack of awareness of my origins, my culture and the language that symbolizes my nationality is a PRIVILEGE.