Reaction: Overseas Filipino

Topics: Philippines, Overseas Filipino, Sociology Pages: 2 (537 words) Published: December 6, 2012
In the article of Dr. Ruben Encarnacion on “How do Filipinos define and experience happiness,” it constituted of five factors such as meeting expectations, transcending family interests, family stability and sustenance, social comfort and secure future. Filipinos find happiness in family, friends, immediate community, even strangers. For them, happiness isn't material, it's social. Filipinos often describe themselves as mababaw ang kaligayahan, or easily amused. There's a dose of self-deprecation there. But let's take it from the national to the personal level. We all know people who aren't easily amused. You rarely think of them as happy. Filipinos are also known for a pair of connected traits: resilience and self-sufficiency. Instead of counting on government to help them, they help one another. When the Filipino says he feels happiest when he is at home with family and friends, I think he is expressing a wisdom their ancestors have always known. They were indeed a culture of conviviality. All of their basic values confirm this, pakikisama, hiya, utang na loob, etc. They all refer to standards prescribing smooth relations with others. They stand in contrast to Western values like virtue, wisdom, personal authenticity, freedom, etc. Sociologists might explain the difference as an aspect of the contrast between pre-modernity and modernity. They would suggest that the direction of all societal evolution is toward the emergence of the individual from the control of his family, clan, community or nation. To a certain extent this is probably true. But how do we explain the fact that many overseas Filipino workers and immigrants who have managed to wrench themselves away from the womb of their society nevertheless continue to be emotionally engaged in the affairs of their primordial communities. Like turtles, they seem to have brought their homes on their backs. The answer, perhaps, lies in the...
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