from the desk of my friend....

Gory, Bloody and Blasphemous

By Joyce Christine Colon

 

Historians hold the future in their hands. 

With the stroke of their pen, you can be a villain, a hero or simply, a nobody. You can be killed, mutilated beyond recognition and even “salvaged” in the pages of history. But all hope is not lost. The good news is, redeeming yourself won’t be difficult because history is always subject to interpretation. After all, there is no such thing as “History of the World” but there is only “A History of the World,” representations of something which is open to discussion. There’s the good, the bad and the ugly. Choose.

Armchair and pseudo-historians often write about the glorious past, leaving out the sordid details. Good or not, however, we cannot simply eradicate nor sanitize history. We must learn to accept the past in its own terms even if it is GORY, BLOODY, BLASPHEMOUS or what have you. 

Live with it. Or die and carry it to your grave.

Until now, I still don’t get it why there are Filipinos who still believe that United States is the eternal savior of this country. We should send them to re-education camps if you ask me. To re-read Philippine history and know that when MacArthur said “I shall return”, he actually meant that he’ll be staying forever in the Philippines. Uncle Sam and his beguiling face of neocolonialism. 

Come to think of it. The marriage of Uncle Sam and Maria Clara is worthy of a production comparable to those big budgeted films in Hollywood. And why not? It illustrates the history of the Philippines in a nutshell, 333 years in a Spanish convent and 50 years in Hollywood, ending up in a blissful, however short-lived, union of two souls who love each other. ‘Till death do us part. Senorita Maria Clara received 20 milllion dollars as a settlement. Uncle Sam was more than willing to get rid of her. He was already captivated by the “exotic” beauty of the Filipinas and he had set his eyes on the Chinese melon, too. Uncle Sam and Maria Clara parted ways as good friends. 

Yes, and both of them are hypocrites. 

Beats me but I’m still surprised, even if I am already aware of it, that some of us still holds to this idea of the great American dream. U.S. is the land of milk and honey. We have lost some of our country’s best nurses, doctors and teachers as well as skilled professionals to it. In search for greener pastures, they left the Philippines hoping to build a better life outside the country. At the height of the increasing demand of nurses abroad, everybody wants to become a nurse. Diploma mills emerged like mushrooms throughout the country producing nurses in hordes. Whatever happened to quality? It’s no wonder why we have too many nurses working at call centers and teachers who work as sales girls. Add to this increasing problem of mismatch and unemployment is the fact that our doctors are handing out their resignation letters in exchange for a nursing career abroad. UK, Saudi Arabia and the United States. It’s a twisted world. I can only pray that my students would not join the increasing force of professional bums. 

Obama wanted to show the world that the American dream is still true. No harm in that. Only that George Bush is a lame duck president. Obama inherited a government in a deep quagmire. Don’t get me wrong. Long before he was voted as President, I already admired him. And mind you, if Michelle Obama is not a brilliant woman, I would personally go to Siquijor and buy some of the best love potions available, to hook her man or much worst, be the next Monica Lewinsky. (Somebody should write about the underside of American history. It would be interesting.) The problem with all these is the idea that it seems like Obama is the panacea to everything. A one size fits all. 

We hope for greater things to come and that change is forthcoming. Good. But putting Obama’s face on everything is overkill. How can you even wipe your tush with Obama’s face on it? Some people would just do anything to make themselves a profit. It’s tantamount to blasphemy. Obama changed the course of history. More than anything else, he deserves it. But we all should learn something from John Kennedy. 

At the moment, I can only think of several reasons for these things. One, our Department of Education published history textbooks with erroneous facts. Again. Or the government allowed the publication of history textbooks with people who doesn’t even have enough qualifications to write them in the first place. For the sake of profit, quality is forsaken. This business of writing history should be left to the historians, not pseudo wannabes. 

Two, GSIS, the notorious blood-sucking institution of this nation, decided to “borrow” our public school teachers money that’s why the latter performed poorly during their lectures. Over-work, underpaid and lacking in recognition, things that best describe the plight of our public school teachers. At some point in my life, I was anemic. But thanks to GSIS, they always give me the needed boost. High blood. 

Third, all public school teachers died because of election related violence. Nobody is left to teach in the classrooms. What’s more? History is going to repeat itself. 2010 is going to be another case of moro-moro. Mar Roxas is switching careers; he’s now a pedicab driver. Take that. Sen. Loren Legarda is reportedly in-love with East Timor’s president. Tama ka Jowa. You call it a bilateral love agreement. Anybody who contradicts this will be included in my wish list of people who will be abducted and beheaded by the Abu Sayyafs. 

Fourth, the students were just too hungry to learn anything inside the class. Therefore, our government through the Department of Education came to the rescue and produced their 18 pesos per pack of so-called fortified noodles with fresh eggs. It is the most expensive noodles in the history of noodle making in the Philippines. This will be distributed for free in public schools as a part of the government’s efforts to address the problem of hunger and lack of nutrition. The intention is commendable but the outcome is gross. 18 pesos per pack is just too much. If this is the case, I’d rather choose to plant "Moringa" to supplement our kid’s nutrition rather than let them eat “fortified” noodles which is heavy on the stomach but low on nutrition. I smell something fishy.

Reality bites? Yes, but this is Philippine history. Don’t sanitize it. 

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new found hobby copy paste and ask permission to people for thier beautiful brains.... 

i admire them...