We are like the Bamboo

Title

Creator

Nakpil, Carmen Guerrero

Language

English

Source

Panorama Volume XIV (No.9) September 1962

Year

1962

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Abstract

My Humble Opinion, the Manila Chronicle, July 11, 1958

Fulltext

WE ARE LIKE THE BAMBOO Carmen Guerrero Nakpil The biggest single advan tage we have always had in our relations with other peo ples is that we start with the premise that we are wrong and they are right. This is not so much a sense of in adequacy as a sweet reason ableness which makes it possi ble for us to “see” a foreign er’s “point,” to conform enough to it to insure our survival and, at last, to ex tract from that contact some benefit for ourselves. This thesis is patent in an cient as well contemporary history. We paid tribute cheerfully to the Chinese emperor or the Madjapahit one. When the long-nosed white men came with their muskets and their sacred in signia, we were, with a few exceptions, more than will ing to meet them halfway. We listened courteously to their claims about the Span ish king (what, another one?) dressed up in capes and fea thers for their religious rituals and we turned our anitos into saints. When the few angry young men like Lapu-Lapu had had their day, and the encomenderos became fiercely rapacious we retreated into indolence and unproductivity — to this day the last refuge of the op pressed. After a brief spell of hosti lity towards the Americans, we were once more ready to be charmed. Indeed, how much more clever to have sanitary wells and to have everyone learn to read and write English and to play baseball and to believe, with the new evangelizer, that heaven is for those who “git up and go." It was much harder to accommodate the Japanese, but we learned how to do it in a thousand ways and who knows, if the for tunes of war and interna tional power politics had been different, whether the Nippongo teachers would have become Thomasites, too,. We seem almost glad that the Chinese are so ingenious September 1962 43 and hard-working — that leaves us more time in which to play politics. Thus, we disarm other people before titty can do us much harm. Where they expect a war or an argument, they find acquiescent smiles and nodding heads. And we rob them of the pleasure of conquest or exploitation. What pleasure can there be in victory or imperialism where the natives are so hap py to be conquered? The bamboo, rather than the tough, unbending n a r r a , should have been our na tional tree. — My Humble Opinion, the Manila Chroni cle, October 12, 1961. • • • "Dreams can be . bought and sold, or stolen," says Arthur Waley in a collection of Third Programme broad casts, and proceeds to tell an ancient oriental story of a bartered dream: "The Japan ese Regent, Masatoki, who lived in the 12th century, had two daughters, who were step-sisters. The younger dreamt that the sun and moon fell into her lap. ‘I must go and ask Masako what this means, she thought, Masako was the name of the elder sister, who was learned in history, my thology and dream-interpre tation. ‘This would be a strange enough dream for a man to have/ thought the elder sister, ‘and it is stran ger that it should come to a woman/ For she knew such a dream meant that the per son concerned would become ruler of the land. Being herself of a masterful and ambitious character, she de termined tp get hold of the dream and said deceitfully to the younger sister. ‘This is a terribly unlucky dream. You had better get rid of it as quickly as possible.’ ‘How can one get rid of a dream?’ asked the younger sister. ‘Sell it!’ said Masako. But who is there that would buy a bad dream? ‘I will buy it from you,’ said Masako. ‘But, dear sister, how could I bear to escape from misfortune only to see it descent upon you?” ‘That does not happen,’ said Masako. ‘A dream that is bought brings neither for tune nor misfortune.’ The price paid was an ancient Chinese mirror. The young sister went back to her room saying, ‘It has happened at last. The mirror that I have Panora 44 always coveted is mine.’ Only long afterwards, when Masa ko became the virtual ruler of Japan, did the young sister realise what she had lost by selling her dream.” This is one of my favorite stories because it is a stabbingly apt allegory of what happened to the Filipino dream. The generation of Rizal, Bonifacio and Aguinaldo dreamed of freedom and national dignity. But in their innocence, they bartered it for security, protection, material prosperity and the lessons of democracy and self- government. It was deemed proper to be grateful to an elder nation for having saved us from the vicissitudes of glorious but uncertain dreams. The sun and the moon on our laps, we were assured, would burn us to a cinder. Now we admire our selves in a pretty lookingglass and daily remind our selves that this is what we wanted all the time. Ah, but how dazzling and inaccessible are the sun and moon that we lost! — My Humble Op inion, the Manila Chronicle, July 11, 1958. THE IFUGAO’S “PUNNOKAN” The Ifugaos celebrate the end of the harvest season with a river ceremony called “punnokan”. On the day of the ceremony, nobody is allowed to go to the fields, where, it is believed, any “intruder” will be killed by the spirits. Instead, the folk assemble beside a river, around a human figure made of hay. This figure is called the "kinaag.” It is thrown into the water and the people try to hook as much of it as tlrey can. The group that hooks in the most hay wins the game., The “punnokan” is a welcome relief after the labors of har vest. — Jose G. Canaptn, September 1962 45

pages

43+

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