Why So Serious?!

For the most part, I am a pretty easy going guy. However, I have been told that I seem to take my heritage, my community, and my culture seriously...almost to the point of being too serious about it. Perhaps they are right. I suppose I take these things so seriously because I am honestly afraid that I am one of the handful of people who actually gives a damn about the culture and the people it comes from.

I grew up here in the United States of America as a kid with one foot in the Filipino world and another foot in the American world. Growing up, I'd often find it difficult to reconcile the American world around me with the culture I experienced at home. To make things even worse, the culture I experienced at home was practically unknown to the outside world. Into my teens, I became more and more hungry to find out more about my heritage and it's relevance towards the world around me. My studies in the Filipino martial arts were the catalyst for this. As the years went on I became more and more driven to show people that my people and my art were relevant. To this day, that hasn't changed.

Unfortunately, another thing that hasn't changed has been the fact that most young Filipino-American's possess a general lack of interest in anything regarding their heritage. I notice that they embrace certain things. They openly spout "Pinoy Pride", wear the Filipino flag on an article of clothing, and talk about the food...but it seems to stop there. It seems that the deeper parts of the culture and history are being lost and pushed to the side in favor of hip hop, sneakers, and fast cars. I find it so strange how difficult it is to get Filipino youth to show up to a Filipino martial arts clinic...but I also notice how easy it is to get Filipino youth to attend a hip hop dance competition or hip hop class. I find it strange how I will see ballroom, hip hop, and the waltz performed at a girl's Cottilion or Debut, but rarely will I see them perform Singkil or Pandango Sa Ilaw at such an event. At events such as the Filipino Internetworking Dialogue (FIND), I noticed how so many Fil-Am kids will be interested as to which hotel room in the hotel will have the most booze and hottest girls, but they will not often recall or discuss the talks and lectures...assuming the attendees were sober enough to remember it.

I take a look at the next generation of young Filipinos here in America and I'm honestly worried. I am worried that their sense of complacency toward their roots will result in our culture being lost forever. Perhaps I am being overdramatic. I really hope I'm wrong. But, I am sincere in saying that it is honestly something that worries me. I don't want our history to be lost. I do not want our culture to be lost. I do not want the spirit of our people who have fought and died so that we as a future generation may live simply to wither and perish. I've made it my life's mission to use what I know to spread the culture and people I believe in. I am doing all I can to preserve and spread the culture in the most honest way I know how...not just by spouting facts or wielding weapons, but by honestly displaying the good that is within us, the good that was always within us...but also the problems we face which we must openly discuss and practically overcome. But, I can't do it alone.

Please, help me.

Relevance

Filipinos are, have been, and hopefully will no longer be, the best kept secret in the cultural melting pot that is America. However, it is surprising to me that most non-Filipinos don't know who we are and what our culture is about. I feel that this is due to the simple fact that while we may be prevalent here in America, we do not work hard enough to make ourselves relevant.



Let's look at some facts: We are the second largest Asian demographic, only second to the Chinese. We are the LARGEST Southeast Asian demographic in this country. The first Filipino-American settlement was located in Saint Malo, Louisiana in 1763...THIRTEEN YEARS before this country was even born. We are your doctors, nurses, lawyers, police officers, janitors, teachers, cooks, and maids. We are your mechanics, hair stylists, fire fighters, electricians, businessmen, accountants, and carpenters. We are, without a doubt, prevalent.



But, are we relevant? Do we seek to step out of the background and truly make our influence and importance on this society known? Do we wish to make the world see us for who we are and what we have to offer? Do we wish to make ourselves pertainable to the current society we live in...or are we simply satisfied blending into the background?



The aspect of assimilation is very present in Filipino culture. As a people who have been colonized several times by foreign powers, it is natural for the Filipino to blend in and adopt the culture of foreigners as their own as a means to survive and adapt. When many Filipinos immigrated to this country, most of the Filipino parents told their kids to stop speaking Tagalog and to start speaking English as a means to better fit in among the Americans at school. Many Filipinos began to shun their culture as a means to better fit into the American social landscape. This appears to be different from many other Asian or ethnic groups that came to this country. While the other Asian ethnic groups did adapt to American customs to some degree, they still nontheless retained their cultural ways: their langugage, traditions, and food...and ensured their children did the same. Instead of letting their indigenous culture adjust to the American social landscape, it seems that other ethnic groups weren't shy of who they were and were able to bend the American social landscape to adjust to them to some degree...not the other way around.



It must be noted that many Filipino families retained their language, their beliefs, and traditions in the home. However, it seems that the children of these immigrants were not sure how to view the relevance of their culture to the American culture that surrounded them at every moment the instant they walked out the door. To make matters even worse, Filipino kids couldn't even settle for just being "Asian" since there are so many shades of Asian out there: Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Cambodian, Hmong, Vietnamese, etc. As a result, the Filipino kid would begin to feel like a minority within well...a minority. Add the fact that there are few, if any, Filipino role models in the mainstream media, and eventually the Filipino kid begins to blend into the melting pot, almost to the point of not truly being seen as the unique person they are.



It is important to know how NOT to stand in the background and blend in. Rather, it's important for us to figure out how we can be better SEEN.



So now we are faced with a question: Is Filipino culture relevant? I am not speaking of the "I-don't-know-anything-about-the-Filipino-culture-other-than-lumpia-and-hip-hop-competitions" watered-down pseudo-culture that most people are trying to pass off as Filipino culture. I am talking about the true Filipino culture: Loyalty to one's family, Bayanihan (if you Fil-Am's don't know what that means, then look it up), the history, the traditions, the art forms, and yes, the food. It's a culture that's rich in beauty and tradition...yet for some reason, Filipinos tend to not know much about it nor really give a damn about it. Due to this lack of knowledge, it is difficult to expect the Filipino culture to find any relevance in this society unless people truly know about it well enough to spread it....and even if you did spread it...no one would buy into it unless they felt it related to them or bore any importance on them.



It is up to US as Filipinos to make sure the culture is relevant to our society. We set the tone. The way to accomplish this is threefold. First step is knowledge. You cannot promote something unless you know about it. You need to possess knowledge of whatever it is you are trying to spread. The next step is willingness to spread that knowledge. All the knowledge in the world doesn't mean squat unless you have the passion and courage to rise above stereotypes, critics, and the ignorant. Jose Rizal, Andres Bonifacio, and other men of that era were not great Filipino patriots because they knew a bunch of facts. They possessed the willpower and strength to speak out and apply that knowledge.

Once these two steps are accomplished, the next step is to find ways to make that knowledge relevant...not just to Filipinos, but to all people. If you want to know how to do this, check out my video blog on the "Colonial Mentality".

While we may be large in numbers, our size means nothing if we do not choose to make ourselves known and our culture relevant.

My Life: The Sountrack

(Found it on bzoink.com)


Opening Credits: Lifehouse "Who We Are"


Average Day: Sugar Ray "Every Morning"


Spending time with friends: Gin Blossoms "Follow You Down"


Driving: AC/DC "Rock N' Roll Train"


Bad Day: Travis "Why Does it Always Rain on Me?"


Fight Scene: Eminem "Till I Collapse"


Mental Breakdown: Tenth Avenue North "Hold My Heart"


Life is Okay: Goo Goo Dolls "Name"


Graduation: The Bodeans "Closer to Free"


Longing for Love: John Mayer "Love Song for No One"


First Glance/New Crush: Matt Nathanson "Come On Get Higher"


Secret Love: Lifehouse "Somewhere in Between"


First Date: The Ataris "I Won't Spend Another Night Alone"


Falling in Love: Counting Crows "Accidentally in Love"


Love Scene: The Script "I'm Yours"


Breaking Up: Rivermaya "Shattered Like"


Wishing for Love to Return: Matchbox 20 "If You're Gone"


Fighting get him/her back: Edwin McCain "I'll Be"


Proposal: David Archuleta "You Can"


Wedding: Shania Twain "You're Still the One"


Reflecting on Life: Matt Nathanson "All We Are"


Reflecting on Love: David Cook "Always Be My Baby"


Death Scene: Boyz II Men "It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday"


Closing Credits: MAE "Suspension"