Sunday, May 30, 2004

Individualism, Independence, Freedom...

7. “LORD God supporter of the weak, United States of America sent ‘Thomasite’ teachers ‘to mass educate, uplift and Christianize’ us though we were baptized as infants, in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, in Latin. Writing and speaking English from first grade to college is our human capital, our social capital and our comparative advantage in our diasporic journey.
8. “Almighty God, savior of those without hope, in 1965, the civil righted heart and soul of United States of America, with a pinch of guilt, a handful of generosity and a fistful nexus of medicare, medicaid and private health insurance labor pain, removed the forty year old national origin requirement for immigration visa. Word of mouth and enterprising travel agencies in Manila offers of ‘buy now, pay later’ for plane fare, we applied, in droves, for any visa applicable to our individual situation, categorized as first to seven preference. On September 26, 1969, your divine power, LORD, landed us in Newark, New Jersey via Tokyo on a TWA jet our first transatlantic plane ride ever together. Your creation continues as always has been and always will be, in the soul germinating in my womb, conceived in love in the nation we left behind, one egg fertilized by a sperm, cushioned in amniotic fluid, dependent on the power passing through the umbilical cord and independently growing on his own accord, a fertilized egg to a neural tube while we were prepared for transatlantic immigration, a calm and quiet fetus while we navigated through job search and place hunting, restless in utero, kicking and changing position while Dad had an emergency appendectomy, to a screaming newborn on Saturday, February, 7, 1970, after an anguishingly prolong labor, a snowstorm raged outside. Six months later, you quietly implanted a blessed soul in my womb, calm and self-confident even at birth, in hurry to see for herself what the world of independence is all about, she barely made it to the sterile delivery room of Passaic Beth Israel Hospital on April 12, 1971. Spring baby she is, always optimistic, self-assured and generously love to be with other people in any setting or situation. Within her first baby year, her Dad was offered a better paying job with managerial responsibilities at Bank of Passaic and Clifton and confidently accepted, for he’s got one more mouth to feed, your invisible hand, LORD, manifested in our desire to better ourselves, employing our simple thoughts and harnessing your gift, LORD, of self-worth, to realize our potential in this land we come to love in your name. For Armando, the mental part of his responsibilities occupied most of his waking moments, my hospital job has to be subordinated to part time for there’s only enough emotional room for one person in a home with two babies.”
9. “LORD God, our One and Only God, for the first time in our lives, our decisions big and small are for our self interest, not for our family or the nation we left behind. For the first time in our lives, all decisions big and small are centered in the nucleus of our needs, not our family in the nation we left behind, for there’s no one who can help us in time of need or of our emergent needs, except you, LORD. The droves of immigrants that came the same time as us, work and work and work in one or more hospitals, taking days off only if it falls on a weekend, over working themselves and spent their wages just as much in emulation to those who came years before us. We communicated to our family in the nation we left behind through the post office stamped letters that took a month to arrive, for a minute phone call cost an hour’s pay and that’s just not logically, economically and psychologically right. For the first time in our lives, we realized that the best way to help our family in the nation we left behind is to sponsor immigration visa for them to come and experience themselves our changing lives of independence and self-reliance, not dollars and pesos, for one dollar was equivalent to four Phpesos when exchanged in the Philippines but the cost of transporting United States dollars to the Philippines is logically, economically and psychologically disabling. For the first time in our lives, we work out our problems without outside reference in the spirit of independence and self-reliance, confident in the certitude of our decision making process and problem solving skills, your invisible hand, LORD, guiding us. For the first time in our lives, we feel free to make decisions big and small for our self-interest.”

Saturday, May 29, 2004

God, Augustine, Adam Smith...

1. “Almighty and ever loving God, creator of heaven and earth, in the beginning, you scattered us over seven thousand islands. We independently spoke the language of each island, contentedly subsisted on your provisions tilled with our hands, built shelters with materials you planted in our midst and superstitiously talked to good and bad spirits for needs beyond our toil and understanding.”
2. “Benevolent God, our contented poor souls and simple hearts had no desire to change or exchange anything. Your invisible hand, Lord God, guided us to divide our labors, share the provisions and materials you provided us in our islands; sweet ubi in one island, bountiful fishes in another and strong nipa palm somewhere.”
3. “ Lord God of Light, in your divine mercy, the birth and crucifixion of your beloved Son, Jesus Christ revealed to us in Latin through Franciscans, Augustinians, Dominicans, Jesuits, Recollectus; mendicant European men who learn Tagalog, Bisaya and other dialect, in contrast with conquestadors and friars that sailed to Cuba, Puerto Rico and Mexico of the same era.”
4. “Almighty God helper of the oppressed, your divine mercy protected us for three centuries with benign assimilation of Spanish, Chinese and native Malay genes. We stand upright today, together with all people of the earth proclaiming that you are God of loving mercy, God of our soul’s salvation and God of the just.”
5. “LORD God, mover of the foundations of the earth, thank you for the spiritual capital inheritance, accumulated spiritual capital, blind instruments in our hands through all societal changes, changes in our living conditions and new destinies, we divided, spend and save for our heirs.”
6. “Almighty God, Creator of the Islands, you benevolently instilled in our simple hearts and minds the foundations of your love. In 1898, the Spanish monarchial empire declined and United States of America’s democratic ‘Manifest Destiny’ annexed us along with Guam, Puerto Rico and Cuba, our spirit of independence from human domination of any kind, manifested violently ignoring President McKinley’s ‘benevolent assimilation’ proclamation that ‘God had entrusted the archipelago to the United States of America’. Our poor souls and simple hearts believe that the only Sovereign Being we adore and worship is you, LORD, the planner of our destiny.”