A Culture of Indolence

Original image from http://www.kibaka.org/

Christmas break–a time to relax, a time to get some sleep and a time to get time. The past few days were really baboy days for me–Getting up at almost 5 pm and would stay in front of my laptop while eating something for the rest of the day. I just had my academic things-to-do listed in my planner but I believe that I haven’t done the bulk of it or I haven’t done anything yet. I was thinking of something to write about during this inactivity of mine so I got some books from my book bank and started browsing. Surprisingly, just like fate wants to tease me, I have seen an article by Alfred Yuson: Let’s face it, we’re a nation of Juan Tamads. “Haha”, I laughed. But I read it, and I felt guilty. Not just for myself but for the whole Filipino nation. With this, I have remembered a paper I wrote when I was still taking a Rizal Course (PI 100, as we call it in UP). So I thought of an idea to fuse my reactions about Yuson’s article and Rizal’s The Indolence of The Filipos (Ang Katamaran ng mga Pilipino–sounds heavier when said in Filipino). This entry might be a little long but I will try my best to be concise. :D

Let’s start by being direct, are Filipinos really indolent? Tamad nga ba tayong mga Pilipino? We don’t ask this question often just because we already know the answer to this.

Let’s face it, we’re a country of idlers which is not the same as saying that we can’t get things done. We just do them, generally, at a slower pace that what might be deemed ideal for the 20th century. The way we process papers, fix up potholes, fall into bed, say our farewells–There’s a languorous quality to our manner of dealing with people and projects.

And I feel the same way Yuson has felt. I witness it, I even do it myself. When I’m in school, it’s a common thing hearing my classmates saying Wala pa nga akong nagagawa eh! NagMovie-marathon kasi ako! Tsaka nakakatamad naman talaga! Last minute na natin gawin! And, you guessed it right, I hear myself say that too. I think I can attribute what Yuson have said the the infamous Filipino Time. We have the Filipino Time because we are indolent. Nakakatamad gumising ng maaga for a meeting; nakakatamad magCommute, galing pa akong Muntinlupa; wala namang mangyayari sa meeting eh, ‘di na lang ako pupunta.

So what could be the causes our indolence? Let’s take a look at some arguments presented by Rizal and Yuson. First, they told us about the climate:

A hot climate requires of the individual quiet and rest, just as cold incites to labor and inaction (Rizal).

Blame it to the sun, our placement in the tropics, the enervating humidity if not the lulling seabreeze… absence of four seasons (Yuson).

I was really fascinated by how Rizal gave the tropical climate as a cause to the indolence of the Filipinos. I really agree with Rizal when it comes to making the environment as a factor. But I do not strongly agree. Although we have this kind of climate as a factor for anything that we do under the sun, we need to understand that this would be a part of our daily life, whether we like it or not. Hence, we need to train ourselves to consider the climate as a non-hindering-factor for working. We may concede that the climate is almost an inevitable factor but we need to get used to it, just what Yuson wants to argue:

It is the present that hangs heavily over the archipelago, so that individual consciousness if left alone to geographical influence would not readily ascribe to the eight-hour workday or the five-year economic plan. For these, we have to open up to, adopt and master the lateral, sequential thinking that has been turned into a way of life by other-than-tropical pragmatists.

It means that if we consider indolence as a result of mere climate influence i.e. indolence as something natural, something unavoidable then we would be indolent forever. We need to cope with this kind of natural phenomena by discounting the negative factor (which is environment) and be goal-oriented and be proactive about the problem.

Second, I have learned from Yuson that the poor education system here in the Philippines or the presence of many uneducated Filipinos could be a cause:

The istambay in the kanto could pore over the classified ads on any given day and discovers worlds of opportunity out there, if only he were qualified. Alas, he is not.

Original image from http://www.kibaka.org/

These idlers could have easily applied for a job if he is qualified, but because they are not educated enough, they are not. So what do they do? Go to Manang’s sari-sari store, mangutang ng 10 bote ng gin at maging sunog-baga hanggang madaling araw. A typical sunog-baga may say: I haven’t finished elementary so I can’t find a job. I’m too old to study again. So I’ll just hang around, laugh and drink with my friends until I die. But of course, making the Philippine educational system better would not make the situation better. This kind of example is just tangential to the real cause: a culture of indolence. Even those who can afford schooling and even those who are greatly educated are still prone to become indolent because it’s a culture, a shared culture that is. On a positive note, Rizal noted:

Indolence in the Philippines is a chronic malady, but not a hereditary one.

This line suggests that indolence doesn’t run in our blood stream, it’s a culture that can be change, hence, we could do something to combat it. But we need to understand that culture can’t be changed overnight, one must begin, one must make being-non-indolent a lifestyle, one must make it a personal culture and one must share this culture to all the people he or she knows. The same process should be done by those who received the shared culture. Some say that the government has a role to combat this negative trait:

We have already truly said that when a house becomes disturbed and disordered, we should not accuse the youngest child or the servants, but the head of it, especially if his authority is unlimited. The Filipino people, not being master of its liberty, are not responsible for either its misfortunes or its woes.

I agree with Rizal but I do not strongly agree. I have realized that everything that we are now could be attributed to the people on the top–to the government. What the authorities are doing would eventually be felt by those who are in the bottom of the hierarchy, if I could call it that way. Everything affects everything else. Same is true with the societal setting—whatever our authorities are doing would result to the condition of the state. But I believe that it takes two to tango, the society needs to have a contributive role. I am happy that Rizal considered this on the last part:

Peoples and governments are correlated and complementary: a fatuous government would be an anomaly among righteous people, just as corrupt people cannot exist under rulers and wise laws.

The Culture, The Business

I could say that bulk of the assertions made by Rizal in his articles is still relevant up today. One of the most applicable to our society today is this: RED TAPE–which is also a cause of indolence among us. All the Filipinos, as well as those who have tried to engage in business in the Philippines know how many documents, how many stamped papers, how much patience is needed to secure from the government a permit for an enterprise. I could say that our government exudes too much bureaucracy that could be a cause of indolence. Many of us wanted the easy way—tagging along a fixer. These fixers know that people are lazy to fall-in-line and wait them to be called, these fixers know that Filipinos are so tamad so they know they would be succesful in the fixing business. These fixers, are also indolent themselves, indolent to find a proper, decent job. Because of this kind of system, because of this kind of “group think” wherein one benefits the other, because of this kind of shared culture–tamad ka? tamad din ako, the situation get worse every single day.

Now who’s starting to change this culture of indolence?

Hmm, so where’s my planner again? I have to get started crossing-out some items in my Things-to-do list.

A Culture of Indolence by Alfred Miguel M. Aguado is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 Philippines License. Based on a work at www.alpsaguado.com.