waking up in a nation of immigrants

I just finished delivering my Toastmasters Speech #1: The Ice Breaker. I’ve received a lot of positive feedback from my fellow club members. They enjoyed the flow of the story, the topic, the humor, and the overall presentation. I was also voted as best speaker for the day. Sweet. This gives me confidence to carry on and be the best speaker I can be

Below is the text of my Ice Breaker speech. It was from my old blog post. I re-wrote it in speech form and edited it to fit the 6-minute time limit. Looking forward to more public speeches.

“Ang di marunong lumingon sa pinanggalingan ay di makararating sa paroroonan.” [Translation: "He who does not know how to look back at where he came from will never get to his destination.]”
~ Dr. Jose P. Rizal (Philippine National Hero)

I remember it like it was yesterday…

“We don’t have stick-shifts here,” said the guy on the front desk.

“Oh, ok. Fine. I’ll take automatic. Economy, please.”

I could still smell the “brand new” scent of my first rental car. It was a 1997 Hyundai Accent GT from Enterprise. It took me a while to pull out of the parking lot because I didn’t know I had to step on the darn brake so I could shift the darn gear. I felt stupid that morning.

So there I was, my first time driving an automatic transmission on Interstate-90 on my way to Arlington Heights, IL.  I was overwhelmed. Where I come from the roads were narrower, the traffic lanes were imaginary, and cars moved bumper to bumper.

Ahh, so this is how it feels like driving on the freeway. Cool.

Then a motorist honked and gave me the finger. I think it was his way of saying that I was too slow merging with the traffic. I just shrugged my shoulders and said to myself, Welcome to America, live long and prosper.

It took me two hours and a couple of gas station stops before I found my hotel, Red Roof Inn. Thanks to the crappy rental car map.  As soon as I entered my room I put my belongings aside, took a deep breath, and plunged myself on the bed. Suddenly, reality hit me. For the first time in my life I was alone, away from my family, away from my friends, away from all the people I know. I was a complete stranger in this place. I just moved into a foreign land with only a suitcase full of clothes and a box of books. I wanted to just lay there and wallow in sadness… But there was no time for melodrama. I was hungry. All I could think of was, Now where can I buy a pizza? I ate pizza for the next two days.

Fast forward ten years later… After working for different companies as an IT consultant; after toiling on different projects including the infamous Y2K bug; after moving from Schaumburg, Illinois to Boulder, Colorado and to Kirkland, Washington; after being a good law-abiding citizen who paid his taxes on time — I found myself in a room full of people from all over the world–more than thirty countries all in all. It felt surreal. I was with ninety-nine people raising our right hands in front of the Red, White, and Blue flag, renouncing our citizenship from the country where we were born, taking our pledge of allegiance with the United States of America (so help me God). I was neither sad for renouncing my citizenship nor ecstatic for gaining a new one. But I felt a sense of gratitude for being granted special privileges, like voting in the most powerful Democratic nation in the world, and being able to travel more freely to other countries with no restrictions (except maybe Iraq, Afghanistan, or Cuba).

And so, on April 2nd, 2007, on a Holy Monday morning, I woke up as a Filipino. And in the evening I went to sleep as an adopted citizen of this great Nation of Immigrants. I may have taken an oath, signed some papers, received a fancy certificate, got a hi-tech blue passport, but to be honest I don’t feel any different. Why? Because I’ve always considered myself as a citizen of the world. And during my lucid moments, I’m also reminded that I’m neither this body, nor this mind, nor any nationality… But that, my friends, is a topic for another story.

"LAS VEGAS — Although Manny Pacquiao is the new 135-pound
champion, he’s no mere lightweight.

"At any weight, in any ring, the Filipino phenomenon looks like
the best pound-for-pound boxer in the world.

"Packing five new pounds of power in his usual stunning hand
speed, Pacquiao captured a title belt in his fourth weight class
Saturday night, stopping David Diaz in the ninth round to claim the
WBC lightweight championship at the Mandalay Bay Events Center." [read more]

Pacquiao dominated the match from the first round. I felt sorry for Diaz early on with all the blood gushing out of his face. But Diaz is a real fighter and kept holding on for as long as he could. In the end, Diaz was no match for Pacquiao’s speed. In the words of Diaz, Pacquiao is just so f@$#ing fast, Shiyeet.

Congratulations to Pacquiao! Hats off to Diaz for putting up a good fight. And kudos to both boxers for displaying good sportsmanship.

(via The Huffington Post)

PRESIDENT BUSH: Madam President, it is a pleasure to welcome you back
to the Oval Office. We have just had a very constructive dialogue.
First, I want to tell you how proud I am to be the President of a
nation that — in which there’s a lot of Philippine-Americans. They
love America and they love their heritage. And I reminded the President
that I am reminded of the great talent of the — of our
Philippine-Americans when I eat dinner at the White House. (Laughter.)

PRESIDENT ARROYO: Yes.

PRESIDENT BUSH: And the chef is a great person and a really good cook, by the way, Madam President.

PRESIDENT ARROYO: Thank you.

See also the video on Countdown with Keith Olbermann where Olbermann ripped on the lame duck President. And rightly so!

I wonder what was going on in President Arroyo’s mind behind her polite chuckle.

But in fairness to Bush, he did help out with two U.S. Navy ships (thanks!) and it’s so true that Filipinos are awesome cooks. Hmm. Miss ko na lutong Pinoy!

Hang in there fellow Filipinos, Americans, and Filipino-Americans. It’s only a few more months before we finally wave back at Bush and cheer, good f@%$ing riddance!

P.S. As a Filipino-American, I’m not really that offended with Bush’s joke. It’s actually a compliment coming from Bush. I don’t even take it as a racist comment like some people are insinuating. However, Bush’s ignorance and lack of class continue to floor me. First, when you’re referring to actual people the correct term is "Filipino-Americans," not "Philippine-Americans." Second, as one commenter on the LA Times said "offensive or not, it’s pretty stupid and unpresidential." Exactly.

In a lot of ways Bush reminds me of former Philippine President Joseph Estrada. They’re both subjects of stupid jokes because of the stupid things they’ve said and done. Both of them are excellent examples of bad leadership. One big difference: Estrada was impeached. Filipinos are more gutsy than some Democratic leaders.

I grew up in the Philippines so this image is very powerful for me.
Even when you’re in the city you don’t have to go out of your way to
see poverty-stricken kids. You see them everyday on your way to work
and on your way back home. It’s one of the stark realities you have to
live with in a third world developing country. But more often than not,
you’ll see these kids playing in the streets, laughing, and seemingly
happy.

To those who still doubt that a Filipino can pull off a live Journey concert, doubt no more. Here’s a proof. Check out Journey at the Great Chile Festival Concert 2008.

Thanks to Youtube, a dose of serendipity, and awesome talent, the Internet is leveling the playing field for discovering world-class performers. Expect more Filipinos to pop up on the international scene. Don’t stop believing, mga kababayan!

You have to watch it (and pump up the volume) to believe it.

Thanks to Charice for making Filipinos proud. Check out the rest of the amazing kids on Oprah.

But Catholic priests (especially the erudites)
are generally more sophisticated in preaching their theology. A lot of
them (if not most) preach in symbols and metaphors. They don’t take the
Bible literally (even if they don’t admit it publicly). Only the less
educated and gullible priests (and Evangelicals) continue to preach the
Bible literally due to their ignorance. Then they go forth perpetrating
their epistemic arrogance
on their fellow deluded adherents. Unfortunately, the latter type of
priests (and preachers) grossly outnumber the sophisticated ones, while
some of the sophisticated ones are also blinded by their own flavor of
epistemic arrogance.

Nowadays a lot of Christians (a big number of them in developing
nations and some cults) still take the Bible literally. But when it
comes to imitating Christ there are those who fall into the
extreme end of the literalist spectrum. A popular example is the physical re-enactment — pain, blood, and gore — of the Passion of Christ in some provinces in the Philippines. This practice is called penitensiya which is an expression of a vow or panata
(pact with God). The Catholic church doesn’t sanction this practice, of
course. In fact, the Church strongly discourage it. However, some devotees still practice it as an expression of their Christian faith. For
your viewing pleasure, here’s a video from the documentary, Panata (Pact with God) [Note: Don't watch it if you're squeamish.]

To the eyes of an uninformed observer, those people who practice
self-flagellation and willingly nail themselves on the cross are a
bunch of third-world uneducated morons. But here’s the catch: some of
them swear that they don’t feel excruciating pain and that their wounds
quickly heal afterwards. Not to mention that they experience a sense of
blissful euphoria while re-enacting Christ’s suffering. This experience
encourage them to continue doing it. They treat their experience as evidence for their faith. It’s one of those mysteries of mind-over-body coupled with pageantry.

Another example of an extreme literal treatment of Christian teachings is the spiritual interpretation (and practice) of Christian Spiritists.
They can also be found in the Philippines. Unlike
self-flagellants, Christian Spiritists literally groove with the spirit
world via mediumistic channeling. I’ve written about them a few years back. See 7even Days: Christian Spiritism.

So what’s the point of this Good Friday post? I leave it to you, dear
reader, to figure it out and come up with your own interpretation, and
personal reflection.

"IN OBSERVANCE of the Lenten Season, INQUIRER.net will not have updates
on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. Regular updates will resume on
Black Saturday."

Filipinos make use of the Holy Week holidays to unwind, visit their
families in the provinces, do personal reflections, renew their
religious resolutions, or go out on a beach with family and friends. It
may be a holiday, but the atmosphere is that of sadness. It’s a time when Catholic Filipinos (about 80% of the population)
collectively partake of the suffering that Christ had endured for
their salvation. It’s a holy time when it’s not appropriate to be jolly.

How could you be happy when Jesus is in the garden in agony?
Wipe that smile off your face and pray. It’s not the time to have fun.
Tomorrow, the Son of God will be put to death. It’s not safe for you to
go out and travel because no one will be looking after you while God is
dead.

I can now look back and smile at the superstitious beliefs the elders
had taught me when I was growing up. But the emotions — the melancholy
in the atmosphere — still linger in my psyche. I wonder if the younger
generation of Filipinos still believe this mythic crap — that the Son
of God literally died for our sins. We’re not even Jewish fer
Chrissakes! Our heritage didn’t come from the lineage of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The Bible (both Old and New Testaments) is a valuable literature
to be studied, but it doesn’t have relevance to our ancestral identity.
Christianity is an imported religion imposed on our ancestors by Spanish explorers conquerors. And yet, not many Filipinos reflect on this obvious historical fact. This is not surprising. The Vatican still has a stanglehold of Philippine culture and politics via the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP). The Bible reigns supreme as the main tool for religious indoctrination.

I remember having an e-mail discussion with some of my Filipino friends about the inerrancy of the Bible.
I don’t usually get involved with religious debates with friends (I do
my rantings on my blog where my friends and relatives won’t bother to read them). I
don’t enjoy being preachy about religious matters. But there was an
instance when I was compelled to say something. Below is an excerpt
from my e-mail response to my friends (slightly edited for public
posting). One of them responded in agreement, the rest were silent. I’m
not sure if they were offended. But I don’t regret expressing my views.
We’re all adults and they should be able to take it.

If you’re a Filipino and you happen to read this, consider this as my
personal reflection for this Holy Thursday; my agony in the garden; my humble
offering. Take it. Drink from it. And do whatever with it as you please.

let’s look at this from our perspective as Southeast Asians…

the
Bible is an artifact from Western Civilization–the roots of it came
from Abrahamic traditions of Judaism. the Philippines is the only
(predominantly) Christian country in (Southeast) Asia.

before the Philippines was colonized by Spanish conquerors our ancestors (like most ancient cultures) worship nature. for lack of a better term, this is called
Animism. village priests were called Shamans.
our ancestors believed in spirits (i.e. diwatas). (note that a lot of our
ancient beliefs and customs are still active in our present culture:
e.g. mangkukulams, aswangs, albularlyos, etc.)

fast forward to the arrival of Buddhist and Hindu traders. (note that the supreme deity called
Bathala is from the Sanskrit, bhattara, meaning "supreme", but in the Philippines
it came to mean God). then fast forward to the arrival of Muslim
traders and Arabs… the rulers of barangays (i.e. Datus) were mostly
Muslims with mix of Hindu-Buddhists among noble people. they were the
first people who established pre-colonial civilizations in the
Philippines.

to make the long story short, Christianity is an imported
religion, imposed on us by Spanish conquistadors. the Bible was
developed from a culture which our ancestors had no direct
connection whatsoever. for example, why do we care about the fightings
and wars in the Bible? why is Jerusalem
holier than the land of our ancestors? why is the Bible more correct
than our other religious roots? if the Spaniards failed in their
conquest then the Philippines would’ve been predominantly Islam with Buddhist and Hindu variety.

i’m not saying that our ancestors’ religions were better than
Christianity. what i’m trying to point out is that arguments drawn from the
Bible (or any other holy book) is a very, very, very limited
perspective. for me, a more rational approach is to look at our history
and see how we got here. an honest look at our history is enough to
understand that no holy book (Christian, Buddhist, Islam, Hindu) is "inerrant". all holy books are
stories based on the world views of cultures from which those
books were written. holy books contain the beliefs, the struggles, the
laws, the cosmologies of those cultures during that point in time. our
story as a global culture is a continuation of a grander story–a story in which we have to include the discoveries of science, the ubiquity of technology and the enduring and evolving wisdom of philosophy.

holy
books are *guides*. i see the Bible as a great book of stories
containing lessons from Western civilizations which developed in parallel with Southeast Asian civilizations. to put its story above our own heritage is to ignore our history as Filipinos.

ika nga ni Rizal: "ang hindi marunong tumingin sa pinaggalingan ay hindi makararating sa paroroonan."
(translation:
"He who does not know how to look back at where he came from will never get to his destination."  – Jose Rizal)

Before the advent of cable, internet, and satellite radio, me and my generation had to endure religious programs on TV and radio during Holy Week. Regular programming gave way to religious themes and classics, like the Ten Commandments. I remember being very disappointed because I would miss an episode of MacGyver. Putragis! So I looked forward to Easter.

But now it’s the other way around. Technology paved the way for the Attention Economy. Attention has become a scarce "commodity," especially with the younger generation who grew up in the age of the Internet. Unless you’re living in a communist country like China where the government has total control of the media, you are free to choose whatever programming you want. Your attention could go wherever your curiosity flows. This is as true for developed nations as for developing nations.

Case in point: With the ubiquity of cable, broadband connection, cell phones, and
online videos, the Catholic Church had to fight for
the attention of its constituents. The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) has embraced Youtube. The CBCP now has an online video channel for delivering sermons. Check out this sermon. Very useful for those who don’t want to miss the sermons for the Holy Week.

Some people living in developed and secular nations might be smirking right now thinking that posting religious (Catholic) sermons online is laughable at best and appalling at worst. But from the perspective of the Church this is an excellent way of reaching its target audience around the world.

Consider this context: Youtube is very popular in the Philippines and to millions of Filipinos living abroad. Majority of Filipinos had a Catholic upbringing and still believe in its teachings. So why not embrace technology and reach as many adherents as possible?

The bottom line: Technology is the driver. Even the powerful Church has to bow down to the power of technology when it comes to competing in the age of Attention Economy.

"DRIP’s 2nd album launch – IDENTITY THEFT – makes a CREATIVE COMMONS
historic first – as the FIRST full-length ALBUM released in the
PHILIPPINES under a CREATIVE COMMONS license…

"This album introduces a first in the Philippines—the enhanced
CD contains shared files of some of the song’s elements that DJs and
remixers can use to create their own remixes of the songs. The DJs and
remixers from all over the world can now use these songs in their sets
and can claim them as their own remix provided that they provide a
share-alike attribution to the original DRIP songs that they are
remixing." [read more]

Hataw! Wishing you more trip hop hits.

Now check out DRIP in action.