[worldchangers2010] Fw: MISPLACED PRIORITIES CAN MISLEAD A NATION ... A SAD AND TRUE FILIPINO STORY

Thu, 27 Jan 2005 18:15:01 -0800


please read on...
> MISPLACED PRIORITIES CAN MISLEAD A NATION ... A SAD AND TRUE FILIPINO STORY
>
>
>
>
> THE STORY
>
> "He who can take no interest in what is small will
>
> take false interest in what is great." John Ruskin
>
>
> Jasmine Trias visited the Philippines very recently.
>
> Everyone was agog waiting to welcome her. The
>
> excitement was remarkable as the media and many of our "kababayans"
>
> flocked to the airport to see her. This scenario is typical of
>
> Filipinos. Sadly, it reflects our country's misplaced priorities.
>
>
> Contest of the Mind. Another young girl came back to
>
> the country just a couple of weeks ago. Her name is
>
> Faye (not her real name for very sensitive reasons).
>
> Unknown to her countrymen, this eleven year old girl
>
> brought honor to the Philippines. She represented the
>
> country in the Intercontinental Science Quiz Net in
>
> Australia. Out of 57 countries represented, Faye
>
> garnered First Place for the Philippines. Germany came
>
> in second while the United States came in third.
>
>
> In stark contrast to the hooplas extended to Jasmine
>
> Trias, Faye's arrival did not make any noise. Not a
>
> peep. In an earlier competition, "Mathematics for the
>
> Young Asians" in Indonesia, Faye also came out in the
>
> Top Five. But just like the Australian event, this
>
> feat did not receive any recognition in our country at
>
> all.
>
>
> Our interests seem to be set on other "priorities." We
>
> are more interested in promoting celebrity guests
>
> instead of educational and intellectual pursuits.
>
> Indirectly and quite obviously we are teaching our
>
> children that development of the external image takes
>
> priority over educational achievement.
>
>
> Faye's story is inspiring. She comes from a broken
>
> family. Her father falsely claimed that he was
>
> unmarried when he married her mom. When her mom found
>
> out, she decided to raise up her daughter alone.
>
>
> Despite the difficulty, Faye in no way used it as an
>
> excuse for complacency in her studies. In grade
>
> school, she was a consistent honor student. She took
>
> every academic requirement as a challenge. And she
>
> delivered. At one time, she submitted a project thesis
>
> in Australia that won "The Best Physics and Science
>
> Award". The award qualified the Philippines to be one
>
> of the top 10 countries that would compete in
>
> Australia, among the 57 countries that joined.
>
>
>  Considering her family's financial constraints, she
>
> and her mom asked help from our government for their
>
> trip to Australia to claim the "Best Physics" award and
>
> to join the Science competition. They saw this
>
> challenge as a rare opportunity offered to Faye and
>
> her country, considering that only two Asian countries qualified - Japan
>
> and the Philippines.
>
>
> Unfortunately, our government had other priorities.
>
>
> Mother and daughter then tried to ask help from
>
> individual senators and congressmen. All turned them
>
> down except for one who was willing to help, on
>
> condition that Faye should give public credit to the
>
> senator for supporting her even in the earlier
>
> competitions she joined. Out of integrity, the mother
>
> could not accede to this arrangement. Thus no outside
>
> help was found.
>
>
> Faced with this situation, Faye and her mom took out
>
> all their savings and went out of their way to secure
>
> by themselves the additional finances needed. The only
>
> driving force behind them was their desire to give
>
> honor to God and to the Philippines.
>
>
> With the little resources they had, they went to
>
> Australia on September 17, 2004 for the competition.
>
> They claimed the trophy and cash award for the "Best
>
> Physics" thesis Faye submitted in Sidney and then flew
>
> to Brisbane for the quiz competition.
>
>
>  No kababayan welcomed them in Australia except for a
>
> kind Filipina they met in the plane who assisted them.
>
> As they were checking in at a hotel, the "kind"
>
> Filipina who volunteered to help them disappeared
>
> taking with her Faye's and her mother's bags,
>
> passports, and plane tickets. At that point, they
>
> literally had nothing left except for the few pieces
>
> of clothes and their faith in God. They had to sell
>
> the extra clothes left to be able to buy food.
>
>
> In need once again, they sought help from some of the
>
> Filipino officials in Australia but to no avail.
>
> Oddly, the Filipino officials there were too busy with
>
> other priorities, not minding to help a young girl and
>
> a mother who had no other desire but to bring honor to
>
> our country.
>
>
> Given a budget for only a one night stay at the hotel,
>
> mother and daughter had to check out the following
>
> day. Leaving their luggage on deposit and without
>
> money for transportation fare, they decided to walk
>
> two kilometers to the competition venue on their
>
> native Filipino costumes.
>
>
> If walking a two kilometer distance was bad enough,
>
> how much more would be walking the distance on their
>
> native costume along the highways of Australia!
>
>
> Upon arrival at the competition site, Faye and her mom
>
> were very surprised when they discovered that the
>
> delegates from each of the other countries were well
>
> supported by a band, a cheering squad, and a flag,
>
>  while Faye only had her mother and the anxiety of lost passports and
>
> plane tickets. Worse, representatives of each country were required to
>
> decorate their booths.
>
>
> With only the three-piece costume they had on, Faye
>
> and her mom were even more surprised when the
>
> organizing committee awarded their booth as "The Most
>
> Creative" booth.
>
>
> In the early part of the competition, Japan, Brazil and
>
> Spain was eliminated. As the only Asian country left
>
> to compete against six Western nations, the
>
> Philippines were cheered on by Japan. Faye was
>
> encouraged by her Japanese cheering squad, but in her
>
> heart, how she wished that she had her own countrymen
>
> to cheer her on.
>
>
> When Faye finally won first place and
>
> Philippines national anthem was being played, she
>
> prayed silently thanking God for making her a
>
> Filipina. Despite all the painful experiences she had
>
> with her country, her priorities did not waver. A
>
> Japanese diplomat was the one who helped Faye and her
>
> mom to secure temporary pass so they could return to
>
> the Philippines. The money they won was just enough
>
> for their fare back home and their temporary passport.
>
> When Faye was relating this story before a crowd, she
>
> said, "Let us love our nation, for nobody else will."
>
>
> Faye did not allow her painful experiences to tear
>
> down her loyalty to her country. She is not a
>
> celebrity but a servant out to serve her fellow
>
> Filipino.
>
>
> A Small Way to Greatness. Our concept of leadership in
>
> this country is pitifully skewed. We mistakenly think
>
> that leadership is about "lording" it over other
>
> people. Christ corrected this distorted thinking when
>
> he said, You know that those who are regarded as
>
> rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their
>
> high officials exercise authority over them. Not so
>
> with you, instead, whoever wants to become great among
>
> you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be
>
> first must be slave of all - Mark 10:42-44
>
>
> Sadly, we are far from the precept of this truth. It
>
> is no surprise then that we have a dearth of real
>
> leaders in this country-leaders who would set the
>
> nation's interests above their own. In the same way,
>
> our concept of citizenship is damaged. Those seeking
>
> for social good for themselves are never willing to
>
> grant the same good to others. Hence it is common for
>
> us hear stories of Filipinos who take advantage of
>
> their fellow citizens. We want to be served, but we
>
> are unwilling to serve.
>
>
> We dream of becoming like Jasmine Trias. We want our
>
> children to be like her. We would rather spend on
>
> things that would make us look good instead of things
>
> that would make us grow in character. We prefer
>
> stardom glitter over service-oriented endeavors.
>
>
> Quite the contrary, Faye spend sleepless nights
>
> studying to win the competition because she knows her priorities. Unlike
>
> Jasmine Trias, Faye did not receive a hero's welcome when she cam back,
>
> but, young as she is, she keeps calling on Filipinos to love the
>
> Philippines because every Filipino is a valuable gift of God.
>
>
> Life, really is not a matter of intelligence but a
>
> matter of setting our priorities right. The question
>
> is, what's our focus on "grand" things that make us superficial or on
>
> simple things that lead us to greatness?
>
>
> Faye's story reminds us all to look within ourselves.
>
> This eleven year old girl could have complained to the
>
> media, but she did not. She went out of her own small
>
> way to bring greatness to this land.
>
>
> Right priorities grant us wisdom. When properly set, priorities point
>
> us ot the right people we need to invest in, the right use of our
>
> energy, the right resources to draw from, and the right endeavors
>
> support.
>
>  From the words of Faye's mother, " We all wanted to
>
> win, but success is not measured through by merely
>
> winning. It is measured through our hearts, if it is
>
> truly attuned with God all the time. It is all that
>
> really matters for we have only an Audience of One.
>
> Whatever we have achieved, big or small, remember one
>
> thing: it is for God and God alone. The King of the
>
> Kingdom of a higher world.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> A COMMENT .....
>
>
>
> Every time I hear a story of our Kababayans like this one, my heart
> bleeds.
>
>
>
>
> The other day I asked my wife, why the hell the Filipinos in Metro Manila
>
> are creating so much fuzz and hoopla about Jasmine Trias. She did NOT
> even
>
> win the contest of the American Idol....yes she placed 3rd....so what?
>
> There are much better singers in our country....and they sing original
>
> Pilipino compositions....not borrowed songs.
>
>
>
> She maybe Filipina in blood and flesh, but lets face it she was born and
>
> raised in Hawaii, USA. During the contest, not even once she mentioned
> that
>
>
> she is from the Philippines. She even mentioned she is a native Hawaiian.
>
> The fact remains that she can no longer communicate in Pilipino; she
> speaks
>
>
> halting Pilipino which sounds like she is making fun of our language; and
>
> most of all I don't think she would like to stay in the Philippines! I am
>
> sick and tired of her.....she is there in the country only to make money
> not
>
> to bring honor! She discovered early that she will make more money in the
>
> Philippines than in USA because her handlers know that poor Filipinos
> love
>
> and worship anything from America.......even American garbage! Some
>
> Filipinos got mad at me when I made this comment.
>
>
>
> Last December, there was also a young Filipina student who won first
> place
>
> in the World Wide Oratory Contest in London........sadly she did not
> receive
>
> such great accolade.
>
>
>
> A Filipina PHD public-school teacher in Visaya won first place in World
> Wide
>
> Contest for Teacher in Boston, USA last year.....did the Filipinos bother
> to
>
> give her a standing ovation or recognition??....No my friends! We should
>
> have given these new heroes a huge and long MOTORCADE right from the
>
> airport....not the street vendor like boxer Onyok who just won a silver
>
> Olympic medal.
>
>
>
> Wake up brothers and sisters.......Filipinos GOT BRAINS TOO for heaven
>
> sake!!!!! We should know who should be the right examples for our young
>
> Filipino school children. We are not only a country of greedy Chinese
>
> merchants, corrupt officials, care givers, domestic helpers and Japayukis!!!
>
> We are world-class people in terms of intellect and creativity. What
>
> country on earth has produced a man like Jose Rizal???? Please tell me.
>
> Even the great American heroes like George Washington or Abraham Lincoln
>
> cannot be compared with Rizal.
>
>
>
> You are right; Filipinos do not know their priorities.
>
>
>
>
>
> Mar Silvestre
>
>
>
>
>
>


=====
AynRand S. Saguil
Entrepreneur / Marketing Management Student (During the evenings)
Mobile No. +63920-928-AYN1
Alternate Email/Friendster: [EMAIL PROTECTED]

"We are what we repeatedly do.
Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit."
                                  -Aristotle

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