COUNTER INDIFFERENCE

I’ve been meaning to write this piece ever since my friend Dea shared this Inquirer article but since I was traveling to Hong Kong and Macau and I watch too many CIA-ish shows, I didn’t want to risk posting this until after I have safely reached Singapore.

Let me highlight this part of the article dated 02 October 2014, where the Philippine Consul General to Hong Kong Bernardita Catalla was warning Filipino residents and workers in Hong Kong:

quote//
“Please, stay away from the areas where protests are [going on], we don’t want to be involved. Let’s always remember that Hong Kong is part of China. Hong Kong is China’s Hong Kong,” she added.

Catalla said that while Filipinos may sympathize with the cause of the protesters, they should pursue their own “priorities.”

“And my priority is to keep your life and employment protected. We are here to work. This is not our country. Our families are back in the Philippines. Let us not get involved,” Catalla said.
//unquote

Okay, hold up. I get that she was well meaning and that she just wanted to ensure the safety of the Filipinos abroad but she should’ve just ended her statement there (like the Singapore consul to Hong Kong). I do not agree with the second part of the statement as I feel it encourages indifference and for me, that's the worst thing a person of authority can ever do. I say this not because I want Filipinos to fill up Central but because I am strongly against the selfish mentality being fostered.

Edmund Burke once said: "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing". Take for example World War II, what if the allies never bothered to join in on the fight against the Nazis because "Czechoslovakia / Poland* is not our country" and "our families are back in France / United Kingdom**"? Again, I don't mean that we should literally join all the protests and wars, but if we keep ourselves objectively well-informed and we strongly believe a cause will benefit the greater good, then why not?! Doing so might not be helping ourselves per se, but when we find ourselves with the capacity to help those oppressed, we do it. Like what French President Hollande (beautifully) said about defending human dignity against barbarity: "because it is our duty, and, more than that, because it is our honour''.

I believe that the world’s problem is the lack of care towards each other. A quote about bullying is making the social media rounds and it goes like “the boy you punched in the hall today committed suicide a few minutes ago. the girl you called a slut in class today, she's a virgin. the girl you called fat, she's starving herself. the boy you made fun of for crying, his mother is dying.”. If you condense it, it basically says that you shouldn’t be quick to pass judgement because you don’t know the full story of the other person’s being. And why don’t you know? Because you didn’t care and you never bothered to ask. Stereotyping is so innate to us because it helps us quickly and easily process new people and foreign environments. Biases can even be instinctual as this was what our ancestors relied on for survival (ie: this kind of plant, poisonous). However, it doesn’t mean that they're all accurate and that we can’t control what we do about these prejudices. Try to catch yourself when you make generalizations and don’t blurt out the first hurtful thing that comes to mind. If you’ve watched the latest season of Master Chef, you’d have seen Jaime. To be honest, I was so annoyed with the way she speaks… until I saw her tweet about how she has a condition that’s why her voice is like that. It made me feel so bad about making fun of her and made resolve to be less judge-y. Not to say that I’m doing 100% well on this front but I am trying 100% and you should too. ☺

That’s the message I want to spread to counter the attitude of apathy Madame Ambassador's speech is cultivating. Again, I know she meant well and that she just wanted Filipinos to avoid the rally sites for safety reasons but given the influence of her position, she should’ve been more mindful with the words that followed. Because even if Hong Kong/Iraq/Sierra Leone is not our country, and our families are safely tucked in the comforts of our motherland, this is our world and this is our kind. If we see those who are suffering as different from us, we become more skeptical in helping which is stupid because they're just like you and me (if you need proof that they’re just like us, check Humans Of New York’s recent tour). I've said this before here on this blog, we are divided by our differences when we should be united by our similarities. So dear friends who have read through this whole post, I encourage you to pass on the humanist spirit by practicing empathy in your day to day lives. If we all do it together, we can change the attitude of selfishness and indifference dominating society.

Care to care, anyone? :)

xx

* - the first 2 countries to be occupied by Germany in WWII
** - the first 2 nations to declare war on Germany in WWII