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