an insight from a current African experience placed in its Philippine context

There's a war. The newest is in Kenya, Africa.

For us, this is nothing new. It seems that at any given moment, war happens. And at that same moment, someone falls in love and pledges undying love and devotion to someone. How come that never reach prime-time news? Too usual, I guess. Not unless we know for sure that that union will bring forth a child that will cure cancer or AIDS. Or maybe finally come up with a business model that makes the Hydrogen Economy a reality. But that 's another story all together. = )

But that's not the point of this entry. It's about a "what if".

What if Spain never colonized the Philippines, would it be such a stretch to see us in tribal wars today? Tribal wars happen almost every year in Africa during the past decades. And this is of interest for us, I mean - mostly for me because if I remember correctly, we were a group of "balangays", or tribes in present context, before the Spaniards came.

I mean, we became La Islas de Filipinas because Governor Heneral said so. And then, drew the map of our "nation's" territory in honor of King Philip.

Our "pre-school type of nationhood" came because we had someone to blame, a common enemy for all the hardships our forefathers had to bear. We had an Emilio Aguinaldo-led and Andres Bonifacio-led revolution with the Spaniards in the late 1800's. Then, the Americans in the early 1900s. Then, the Japanese during the 1940s.

I think it is because of this "common-enemy story and someone to blame logic" that saved us from going into tribal wars as horrible as the Kenyans is going through it right now.

But I think it is time for this "blame-game" to have a new twist. I mean, I lived through its recent reincarnations - the Marcos-version, then the Cory-version, then the Ramos-version, then the Estrada-version and then the Arroyo-version and we are still stuck in "a nation still in the hospital" category.

I heard of "the sick man of Asia" and then the a nation "in the ICU aka a nation nearing its end of days during the turn of the millennium." Remember Governor Arnold's film, End of Days? And who was the president then?

The best we did was being a tiger cub but that's so 90s. It was abruptly disrupted by the Asian financial crisis of 1997. And now, as the spin doctors are saying (but I am hoping that it is really true) - we are now in the recuperating room. Hrmpf. Still a nation in the hospital. Oh, well...

Could we turn a new leaf? Please? It's new year after all, di ba? Could we add "It's my fault, too" to "It's their fault"? After all, we are the ones who elected them, right?

On the first few pages of the landmark work of Dr. Scott Peck, The Road Less Traveled, he discussed about the difference between paranoia and character disorder and said that it's easier to help the one with character disorder because "...they take responsibility."

I take responsibility. It's my fault too, Lord!