The Filipinos: The Earth Benders

From the movie "The Last Airbender"

"It is in the hearts that the true battles are fought and won..."
"You have to know the reason why you were born..."

There was a poignant scene in the movie that spoke to me. Crushed my heart. It was the scene when the Avatar was talking to the "imprisoned" Earth Benders. He was imploring them, reminding them that they were a great people. That they ARE a great people. He was questioning them why are they living like this? In poverty.

My eyes got teary.

It sounded like he was talking to me, a Filipino.

You see, I have always believe that the real treasure of the Philippines is her land. Science and statistics has proven this. In the list of mineral deposits and metals, of any kind and of the world, the Philippines always belongs to the top 10. And the fact that we are sitting on top of the ring of fire, also suggests that our geo-thermal energy potential is second to none.

I am hopeful that 'this' way of living, as the Avatar in the movie described, will end for the real and truthful answer to the question of "Why we are not 'bending' our God-given treasure and living like 'this'?" is slowly being answered today.

You see, if we can 'bend' earth, there is no need to import food. There is no need to see people starve. If we can 'bend' earth, our electricity bills goes down to only a tenth of what we pay for today.

But why are we not studying and 'bending' earth? Why do we choose to be the second class, worst, the third class citizen in foreign soil?

The answer lies in the fact that those who hunger for wealth and power in the past did an effective and efficient job in making us forget who we truly are. We forgot that we were a great people. That we have something worth going to battle for.

Remember Lapu-Lapu? Why did he fought Magellan?

Why do we have gold works that rivals the best in ancient times and pre-date colonial Philippines? You see, gold is a metal that needs to be mined. In order to acquire gold, you must know where to find, how to find and how to get it. That needs sophisticated intelligence. So, why did the Spanish called us indios when we knew how to mine gold before they came?

The answer lies in the fact that no colonizer will build a nation out of its own colony because that very act defeats the very purpose of being a colonizer :)

Divide and conquer is a pain behind our anatomy :)

You see, our forefathers knew how to 'bend' earth. And this knowledge is the reason why we never built fortress or castles of any kind. For fortresses and castles are built to protect something. A fortress and a castle is built by the "haves" to protect themselves from the "have nots". If everyone are "haves", why do you need to build a fortress or a castle in the first place?

Another proof of this "earth bending" prowess is the Banawe Rice Terraces. If only all the Filipinos can see its beauty and majesty, maybe, the blood that runs through us that ran through our forefathers gets awakened and then we start to truly see :)

To God be all the glory.

"... why think like mere men?"