The Care and Feeding of Alliances
Or, how not to be beaten and eaten if you crawl into the cage with a gorilla. Filipinos have this love/hate thing going on with Americans. The love has to do with the wealth, good behavior, good living and sense of respect one would give to power ala Dictator Marcos or other thugs we think … Continue reading
Enacting the Whine
The other day I wrote about ambition and unity as elements of a vibrant Philippines. Today I’ll address one of the barriers to unity. It is called authoritarianism. Unity requires a joining of hearts and effort. Authoritarianism hardens hearts and diminishes effort. From the outside looking in, one of the interesting facets of Philippine culture … Continue reading
The Philippines: A Return to Eden
The real tree of knowledge? I was described as a demagogue recently for defending, not the minesweeper that crashed into a cherished reef, but the notion that it is best to await for information before declaring people guilty of lawbreaking or arrogance. Well, I suppose my running to the defense of America is a function … Continue reading
Zen and the Art of Filipino Character Maintenance
It has been observed that Filipinos seem to live in the now, a wholly admirably quality of you have read “The Power of Now” by Eckhart Tolle or are into Zen Buddhism. But it does make for a rather chaotic and reactive style. Face it, planning ahead is not commonly or skillfully done here. In … Continue reading
The Strength Within
Stick with me if you can. This one’s a ride. Ideas grow where you plant them and propagate in an organized random way.Doing this blogging bit is a little like stuffing a plant into the fine red Philippine soil. You plant one idea and before you know it, you’ve got another plant poking up over … Continue reading