Thoughts on the present crisis

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Part of Panorama

Title: Thoughts on the present crisis
Creator: Sinco, Vicente G.
Language: English
Source: Panorama XIV (5) May 1962
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Fulltext: MAY 19 62 Entered m second clan mail matter at the Manila Poet Office on Dee. 7, 1956 MANILA, PHILIPPINES No. 5 VOL. XIV THOUGHTS ON THE PRESENT CRISIS Dr. Vicente G. Sinco To the the observant citi zen of our country today, mankind is literally beC^villed by enormous ques tions and problems. Some of them are old but many are new, making life more com plicated and giving us a pic ture of confusion and puzzle ment. Some people may and do approach them with indif ference and fatalistic abandon, relying on what the indolent and the irresponsible among us would say: “Bahala na.’’ Such men and women are likely destined to become pa rasites of society. But men and women who have gone through the process of acquir ing a college education are ex pected to look at these prob lems with a sense of responsi bility, to meet these questions with a measure of determina tion to work for right answers. These are the citizens that our country must have and must have them in sufficient num bers now and in the days to come. Without them, the fu ture of the nation will be dangerously uncertain, dark and dreary. Undoubtedly, social and eco nomic problems do not solve themselves. They have to be met by those whose minds have been trained to think, to reason, to weigh, and to vis ualize imaginatively. It is not enough that we arm ourselves with bare facts and statistics. Nor should we as citizens of a democracy leave to one man or to a lew the task of finding the solutions to the problems that we have to face. That would be an undesirable and a dangerous step to take. We would be thereby courting di saster. For in so doing we may succumb to the temptation of dispensing with the use of our own minds, and, as a conse quence, we may soon find our selves living as captives in a totalitarian society with a strong man or a clique of de magogues doing all the think ing for us. Desiring a condi tion of ease, prefering the pleasant and painless path, we shall lose the freedom to choose that which we deem best for us and that which we believe to be the highest point of our destiny. On the other hand, should we make our own decisions in utter ignor ance of ideas and ways that could open for us the doors to a better life, it is most likely that we may end up in losing whatever possessions we have been able to acquire and what ever opportunities may have presented themselves to us. This is the dilemma that confronts a people in a new democracy. It is what makes the creed of democracy so per plexing and so demanding to those who chose to follow it. For it calls for intelligence, courage, unselfishness, selfcriticism, and sacrifice. It is what makes the ideology of authoritarianism deceptively alluring because it calls for no effort on the part of the peo ple to think for themselves and to make their own deci sions; and so it offers them the misleading convenience of ef fortless conformity and sub mission to the dictates of the leader. This is true in all forms of authoritarianism — whether in politics, in econo mics, or in religion. It is em bodied in the ideology of Com munism, of Fascism and Na zism, or in other brands of dictatorial systems. Education alone could lead us out of this dilemma, educa tion that frees us from the monopolistic control of any one set of beliefs, that broad ens our intellectual horizon, and that enables reason to guide our emotions and to give wings to our imagination. It is the sort of education that deepens and, at the same time, 4 Panoiama widens our understanding of cultural, moral, and. spiritual values. Bearing these thoughts in mind, let us now turn our at tention to the conditions of our country today. Viewed broadly and objectively they present a bewildering state of affairs; and it has been so since the end of the last World War. We see growth, vbut it is an unbalanced, a one sided, growth. In our desire to build a progressive com munity, we have been con centrating our efforts on the economic side of develop ment. We have persuaded ourselves into thinking that our national problems can have but one main solution; and that solution lies in in dustrialization and in the me chanization of all our other activities. We take unusual pride in the increasing num ber of plants and shops we have put up for the produc tion of things we need or we seem to need. Our minds are set on the acquisition of an abundance of material posses sions. In this respect we have taken the view of some per sons who measure progress by the amount of goods we con sume and the number of ser vices we could command. In other words, national pro gress is wholly equated with a high mass consumption, inMay 1962 5 terpreted as a high standard of living. We are persuaded to believe in the soundness of that view. Within proper li mits it deserves our accept ance. But adopting it blind ly as the sole criterion of pro gress it could have crude and undesirable' results. Never theless, it is appealing to those whose purpose in life is not just to live in comfort but to wallow in the abundance of material possessions, to dis play the luxury of palatial dwellings, to be seen riding in flashy cars, to bedeck themselves in precious jewel ry, to give sumptuous ban quets, and to indulge in other forms of what Thorstein Ve blen calls conspicuous con sumption. This distorted idea of progress and well-being finds acceptance among the uncritical and those who claim to be practical men. Un fortunately, it is responsible for the disappearance of the lofty concept of simple living and high thinking, the ideal of truly great minds. It is one of the causes of the weaken^ ing of moral values. Today it is not strange to find men of this persuasion in positions of power, influence, and prestige. Pretending to devote their energies for the general welfare, they are in fact looking for their own per sonal improvement or for the • improvement of a few favored individuals. While the profit motive should not be sup pressed in a free society, it should, however, be carefully restrained lest it overrides so cial purpose and interest and becomes a factor exclusively intended for personal advance ment. There is both social and moral justification in guard ing ourselves and our country against self-seeking men and women who make the spe cious claim that what is good for them individually or for their business is always good for all. (Continued on page 22) 6 PAN0RAM4 the orderly and consistent implementation of the govern ment’s five-year socio-eco nomic program, and, particulary (1) the creation of con ditions that will provide more income and employment to the people; (2) the attain ment of -self-sufficiency in the staple food of the people; (3) the maintenance of a balanced budget and discontinuance of deficit spending; (4) the pro gressive reduction of the pub lic debts; (5) providing the proper incentives to domestic and foreign investments; (6) dispersal of most of the gov ernment-owned corporations to the private sector; and (7) “the establishment of policies that will strengthen the rural fiber of our nation and re introduce those values that would invigorate our demo cracy.” THOUGHTS ON THE . . . There is really nothing in herently wrong in working for one’s individual welfare as long as the ambition to im prove one’s condition does not make him forget that he is a citizen, that he is a member of the community, that such membership binds him to all the other members, and ?o he is under an obligation to ren der positive assistance to his fellows and to his nation. The privilege of citizenship or of membership of a society irre vocably implies social rela tionships and mutual coopera tion. The degree of fulfill ment to which our social duty should take us depends upon our awareness of the moral nature of this obligation. We can disregard it just as some of us quite often disregard the promptings of our personal conscience. But if this prac(Continued from page 6) tice becomes general, if those who direct the national poli cies follow suit, the time will come when the social con science will cease to respond to the clamor of the nation fongenuine betterment. The evils that beset us these days are largely traceable to that selfish ambition that en tirely ignores the superior in terests of the nation. In the pursuit of that spirit, some of our countrymen have come to worship wealth as the bes£ means of acquiring everything in life including public offices and the fellowship of the high and the mighty. So with much money in their hands, ballots and offices are bought and public men are made to do their bidding. With noth ing but personal prosperity in (Continued on page 32) 22 Panorama tooled into numerous articles of merchandise. In Taiwan, enterprising b u s i n e s smen using shark skin as raw ma terial turn out $700,000 worth of articles annually. Scales of sharks are diffe rent from those of fishes. They are closely-set bony pro jections with enamel, just as teeth are. This hard-skin covering is called shagreen which furniture-makers still use as abrasives even after the invention of sand-paper. Benefits Unlimited Maximum utilization of products and by-products from the shark fishery will create vast job opportunities as well as myriad products for local consumption and ex port. Fishermen use -shark blood to preserve fishing nets in place of coal tar. Shark teeth have decorative uses in some places. When dried and ground, the offal and viscera serve as poultry feed and first class fertilizer. The entire skeletal structure of the shark can be charred and reduced to supplementary feeds. PracTHOUGHTS ON THE . . . view, they are capable of ex ploiting indiscriminately our natural resources in utter dis regard of the disastrous ef fects which such thoughtless acts could bring upon the tically all components of the shark are useful if we know how. We have shown how every portion of the detested fish is utilized for cheap protein food, animal fodder, agricul tural fertilizer, industrial raw materials and other export commodities. The production of fish flour, dehydrated fish meat, fish sausage will make available an inexhaustible supply of cheap protein food to our ra pidly-increasing population. People repelled by its nau seating scent are in for an other surprise. Dehydrated shark meat, fish flour and fish jelly products do not have the expected fishy smell. Many may not know it yet but deodorized fish flour con taining 87% protein, 3% cal cium and 2.4% phosphorous, is the basic ingredient for fish-enriched bakery products like galletas, biscocho, apa, polvoron, and even ice cream! With these advantages, who can resist the lure of shark fishing? (Continued from page 22) country. They go to the ex tent of serving at times alien interests of the kind which are exclusively concerned with the promotion of their own (Continued on page 34) 32 Panorama qualitatively different from anything that has gone before in international relations. It is a genuine concern ftfr the welfare of others stemming from an ever deepening recog nition that we are na less American for being part of the family of man. To my mind there is no more significant or rousing manifestation of this revolu tion in attitudes than the Peace Corps of the United States. Let me quote from the let ters of Peace Corps volunteers in the Philippines: A girl from Negros Occiden tal writes, “I often sit down with X, Y, and Z and marvel how very lucky we are. You’ve visited our wonderful house by the sea and know what excellent living condi tions we have. Of course, there are many nights that we have no water and others THOUGHTS ON THE . . . material welfare, paying scant attention, if any at all, to what may happen to our land and people. We realize the disadvan tages of ultra-nationalism. We are convinced that the foreign capitalist could help us; but let us not forget that he could also hurt us. He could be a benefactor when in the pur suit of his enterprise he obwhen the electricity goes off, but the good parts far out weigh the bad. The people have been grand to us... They bend over backwards to be kind to us and ask for no thing in return but a smile, a friendly word, or our friend ship. For example, Y decided to build a chicken coop. Soon after she mentioned it for the first time, a load of bamboo was deposited in our yard and a carpenter appeared. We con vinced him that we weren’t too crazy in that we ourselves, wanted to do the actual work. The principal, mayor and others offered to pay the car penter, but we said it wasn’t the money we were thinking of, but the fact we wanted to do the work. Finally, when Y did begin splitting the bam boo, choosing a site, and build ing her now famous coop, se veral neighbors came to help. We don’t like to appear un(Continued from page 32) serves our laws, assumes social responsibilities, and shares with us justly the pro ceeds he derives from his ven ture. But he could-be our worst enemy when disguising himself as a friend he follows a career of illegal exploitation of the economic opportunities that he meets within our shores. He could thus become an undesirable example to 34 Panorama grateful but we want them to know we aren’t afraid of hard work and don’t place our selves on a pedestal above them. “We’ve been concentrating mainly in English, as the children need to get used to our speech patterns, intona tions, and pronunciation be fore they can possibly grasp scientific concepts. As it is, I’m quite busy with my seven fourth grade classes and some teaching in grades three, five and six. I work mostly with three fourth grade rooms and once a week visit the other rooms.” From Sorsogon another girl writes, “Bulusan is a beauti ful fishing village—the ocean is minutes away — really per fect. Our house is right on the river and we have the most terrific view from our kitchen window — women beating their clothes and kids many of our people who are just beginning to realize the numerous possibilities of im proving their material condi tion. When we condemn selfish aliens in our country we should not forget that in many cases they are not operating alone. Some of our country men may be their partners or allies. They give them aid bathing. I have taken many pictures of the same scene to send home — we never seem to tire of the country scenes. “We gave a Christmas party for the poor kids here who have no Christmas. We had about 80 wrapped toys and candy balls and about 150 children showed up! It was great fun—we made some good old-fashioned chocolate fudge with pili nuts. This was quite a production on a native stove. A and B came from Santa Magdalena for Christ mas. The day after Christmas we all went to Sorsogon to start on our work project.... We went to Casiguran and worked on a cement fence the PTA is building around the school to keep the carabaos out! We had some good fel lowship and hard work. I have blisters all over my hands and sore muscles to prove the latter! It was a and comfort. It is not, there fore, unkind for us to regard these partners of alien econo* mic invaders as enemies of the nation, traitors to the people’s cause. They are just as wick ed as common criminals and are no better than Communist spies who work to subvert our democratic institutions. But these elements are not the only factor that casts a May 1962 35 good time and we learned a lot that will come in handy in our next projects. It was really a gas to watch the townspeople watch American women digging ditches and mixing cement. “Now we are back in Bulusan. I am trying to get a fence built around the, yard so that I can have a garden. It -is best to plant in January, so I have been told, and we want to have the whole bit organized by then. We hope to build a chicken coop out there, too, and have a few chickens because eggs are im ported to Bulusan. “Our work in the school should really begin to shape up in January. We have ob served class already and will be ready to start work when school opens again. We will be working for 15 minutes in each English class through out the day. During the free ' THOUGHTS ON THE . . . dark shadow on our path to a better state of affairs. They are not the only cause of our social and political bewilder ment. Equally inimical to a sound program of national development is the appear ance of a phenomenon among our countrymen which, for want of a more readily avail able name, I would call poli tical obfuscation and cultural 45 minutes we will work with individual pupils who are having much trouble. Then, three times a week for half an hour we will conduct a speech clinic for the teach ers.” One Peace Corps volunteer is starting a language center in Negros Occidental. By language he means both Fili pino, in which he is fluent, and English. He writes, “This center will be located in the. Central School, where I’m as signed and will be geared to the needs of the 104 language teachers... My aims are quite modest. They are starting a language library, not just for books but also charts, flash cards and other devices for teaching Tagalog and En glish. .. original research... and in-service training... Al though this sounds ambitious it’s really not going to inter fere with the regular work. . blindness. It is a fast-grow ing malady affecting more and more people in our midst. It manifests itself in the form of either a voluntary refusal or just plain ignorance on their part to realize the limit ations of their abilities, their capacities, their qualifications for specific tasks and posi tions. No office or employ36 Panorama very much. There is no mar tyrdom, no strings, and no chauvanism in genuine con cern for others; volunteers do their jobs quietly and consci entiously without feelings of sacrificing, without demand ing any tangible return, and without boasting. This does not mean that I lack pride in the volunteers. I cannot help but feel proud as a member of the human family when I see the impetus to service without theatrics, strings, or egotism reach out across national boundaries. I have seen volunteers giving love as well as lessons to their pupils. I have seen them de vote their spare time to com munity activities or public health in, the barrios. I have watched- them dress wounds, THOUGHTS ON THE . . . use its powers and facilities to enrich themselves. How many of those who spend large sums of money and work hard to get them selves elected to a public of fice could tell us exactly why •they want to be so elected and what specific objective do they intend to accomplish in a public position? If elected as official candidates of a party, do they understand the party platform and do they mean to live up to its prin ciples? To say that their aim plant seeds, help others start a small business, and do dozens of useful things in a matter of fact way—in addition to their teaching English and science. The spread of human con cern is something with which we are all familiar. At the political level we might call it the integrative impulse, and define it as the motivation to be associated with and to in fluence and be influenced by others outside of the basic political in-group. The integrative impulse is something that is especially felt by the youth of all na tions. The youth are break ing with the past. They want to reach out for new patterns of human relationships. The Communist movement had (Continued from page 37) is to serve the people is no better than to offer a vague and meaningless excuse which no thinking man could in con science accept; for every in telligent citizen should know that he could also serve his people and country without having to hold a public office. So many of those who wish to hold public positions seem to overlook the fact that for one to fill any of them pro perly he has to be prepared educationally, experientially, and morally. But they refuse May 1962 39 precisely this appeal to youth because it seemed to be say ing to young people—reach: out for association with oth ers, extend your horizons, en large your influence, and unite against your elders and the patterns of life they have laid down. Communism ap pealed to the integrative im pulse in youth, but failed to appeal to their impulse for freedom, and nowhere in the world, except perhaps in La tin America, are the Commu nists still gaining ideological adherents as they were ten years ago. The integrative impulse ap pears in different ways. Among Asian and African youth the thrust toward inte gration is through national ism; among European stud ents and young businessmen and professionals it is toward a federated Europe; in the United States of America an THOUGHTS ON THE . . . to admit their limitations. Moved by an erroneous con ception of democracy and equality, they imagine that the physical ability to sit in an official chair gives them the capacity and the wisdom to exercise faithfully and ef fectively the functions and duties of the office. We need to know and to respect the basic principle that a public ever growing number of young men and women have extended their concern to the family of man. It is a revolution because at the political level it is something quite dramatically new in international relations. It is not the concern of the colonialist or imperialist who wants to control; nor is it the familiar concern of the mis sionary who wants to spread his version of ultimate truth. This revolution of widening concern is based on a simple truth which everyone recog nizes in the abstract but which few feel deeply at a personal level. That truth is emblazoned on the wall of the lounge at International House on the University of the Phil ippines College of Agriculture campus at Los Banos in the statement, “Above All Na tions Is Humanity.” That truism, implicit in the office is a public trust. A moral crusade is a farce if this ethical conception is over looked. Popularity is not necessarily a substitute for morality. Democracy does not guarantee equality of ability and character. It merely gives us the assurance of equality of opportunity and equality of treatment before the law. Is it any wonder then that 40 Panorama teachings of all of the great religions, is now a part of the thinking of the men responsi ble for the conduct of foreign relations in my country. Pres ident Kennedy has empasized it in speech and action repeat edly. It may not always be a perfect guide for day to day decisions, but it is the stand ard of conduct to which Am erican statesmen would like to respond. President Kennedy and other foreign policy spokes men repeatedly stress that our major foreign policy goal is to establish the understand ing and legal instruments ne cessary to bring into being a genuine community of man. For those are the two funda mental bases of community. There must be a true under standing of common interests, of our essential unity with all members of the human family including the Chinese and we face today a crisis of lead ership? The direction of pub lic affairs, of economic poli cies, of educational programs should be aimed at well-stu died and well-defined attain able goals. With pedestrian minds and inexperienced hands, it is not possible to ex pect a high degree of stability and order in the management of the essential institutions of Russian people. This is the functional approach to com munity which has been the source of the Marshall Plan, President Truman’s Point Four, the Food for Peace Program, U.S. support of United Nations Specialized Agencies, the international programs of the great founda tions, and the Peace Corps. President Kennedy has pro posed an international Peace Corps because he wants to see Americans working and liv ing together in terms of vo lunteers from many nations. In his message to the United States Congress setting forth the initial program of the Peace Corps, he said, “Let us hope that other nations will mobilize the spirit and ener gies and skill of their people in some form of Peace Corps —making our own effort only one step in a major internaour country — be they govern mental, economic, educational, or social. But again, there are . certain fundamental principles of pub lic morality and certain tech niques of operation which should be learned and under stood. But even more than only learned, they should be deeply respected and Strictly (Continued on page 43) May 1962 41 program for cooperative eco nomic assistance which bore his name, the Soviet govern ment was invited to partici pate. Similarly, President Kennedy’s plan for a Peace Corps under U.N. auspices is for all member nations. Why does the impetus to ward integration in the Unit ed States take this form? Why is the span of our con cern global? The answer lies in the historical and social traditions of my country. In the terms of social history these traditions can be label ed American pluralism, prag matism, and messianism. Ethnic religious, and racial pluralism is one of the great clues to American life and a significant factor in under standing our revolution of widening concern. Few for eigners realize that we are a nation of recent immigrants. Even before the 19th century THOUGHTS ON THE . . . observed in the management of the affairs of a democratic society. The head of the state, notwithstanding the best of intentions, could be frustrated in any attempt to carry out his most carefully studied plans and policies if those who are expected to give him as sistance ignore them when they find them ill-adapted to their own personal ambition. our population was diverse. Although predominantly of English origin, our nation in cluded substantial African, French, Dutch, and other mi norities. With the great im migration flow from Europe beginning in 1820 we absorb ed millions of Irishmen, Ger mans, Poles, Russians, and Italians. Between 1820 and 1920 nearly forty million Eu ropeans arrived on American shores. Asians came, too, as a glance at our populations in California and Hawaii re veals. In Hawaii, for ex ample, there are approximate ly 70,000 Filipinos, half of whom are American citizens. Out of • this melange was forged the nation we now know as the United States. We have learned that diver sity of population and tradi tion is compatible with mu tual understanding and con sensus. Our religious plurali(Continued from, page 41) Hence, even knowledge, skills, techniques, and other forms of know-how necessary to give us the aptitude and power to accomplish any work, task, or assignment, will still fall short of enabling us to achieve the high objectives we intend to reach. In addition to all these, we need an attitude of nobil ity, a spirit of self-restraint and sacrifice, a willingness to May 1962 43 sm is almost as great as our ethnic diversity. We have a Catholic President and our oldest Supreme Court judge is Jewish even though we are a predominantly Protestant nation. A sizeable Buddhist minority and dozens of small sects flourish under our laws. Americans may act alike to you, but we embrace tradi tions from every major area in the world. We believe we are much richer for having nearly twenty million £merl cans of African descent, the inspiration for American jazz, who are no less American by linking us to the peoples of Africa just as the descendants of Asia and European immi grants tie us to those conti nent^. For generations, our people looked inward with a policy THOUGHTS ON THE . . . forego unworthy aims, the courage to resist corruption, a deep sense of responsibility. These are the indispensable attributes which we would want to suggest to those amongst us who wish to hold positions of authority, in fluence, and prestige whether in the government, in indus try, in business, and in other areas of society. Knowledge is indeed essential. Physical energy and drive are needed. But above all these, the moral that was incorrectly called “isolationism.” It might bet ter have been labeled “continentalism.” We were busy ex ploring and exploiting a con tinent with people who had for the most part rejected their old countries to make a new life in the United States. This rejection of Europe rein forced the warning of our first President against en tangling alliances with Eu ropean nations. For some groups—primarily the Irish— and German-Americans the rejection of Europe was more specifically revealed in hostil ity towards England, the only nation with which the United States could realistically have been allied. A continuing for mal alliance with England might have prevented World War I and the rise of Hitler, force of character is indispen sable. A prominent Ame r i c a n scholar, Arthur M. Schlesinget, Jr., recently wrote that “ours is- an age without, he roes,” and that in America to day no towering figure ap pears on the public scene. No Roosevelt, no Lincoln, no Woodrow Wilson, no Jeffer son, or Franklin, may be found among its national leaders at present. Do we not find a cor responding vacuum in our Panorama but it would have produced extreme tensions between eth nic groups in the United States. Now we are secure in our Americanism and the age of continentalism or isolation ism is over. Not only is our alliance with England and Western Europe accepted, but we go out to the rest of the world as a part of the family of man,. knowing from first hand experience that the real ization of unity within diver sity is possible. The development has never been more evident than in the recent commencement ad dress given by our Attorney General, Robert F. Kennedy, at Nihon University in Tokyo. Mr. Kennedy, whose grand parents were Irish immi grants to the United States, and whose father was often called an isolationist, stated own country today? As we look around us, we do see some good and able men. But we do not find it easy to see any commanding personality with the vision, character, and nobility sufficiently great and inspiring to stimulate and to awaken the heart and soul of our nation to the realization of our potentialities for excel lent achievements. The role that was played by Quezon, Tavera, Osmena, Juan Sumulong, Recto, and Laurel in the respective heydays of their that, “The resources of the earth and the ingenuity of man can provide abundance for all—so long as we are pre pared to recognize the diver sity of mankind and the va riety of ways in which peo ples will seek national fulfill ment. This is our vision of the world—a diversity of states, each developing ac cording to its own traditions and its economic and political problems in its own manner, and all bound together by a respect for the rights of oth ers, by a loyalty to the world community and by a faith in the dignity and responsibility of man.” With the end of isolationism and the maturing of Amer icans it was perfectly natural for them to want to make the world, including those areas from which their forebears career appears too enormous for many leaders today; but we need to have someone to play a like role if our country is to prosper. The circumstances and con ditions of present-day Philip pines have greatly changed. The political independence of the country has created new problems. It presents new challenges to the ability, the sense of honor, and the spirit of patriotism of our leaders. These men are expected to set (Continued on page 52) May 1962 45 THOUGHTS ON THE . . . an example of sobriety and wisdom to every person in our country regardless of social or economic station, religious or party affiliation, personal friendship or individual and class prestige. Their acts, mo tives, and ways of living should be such as to enable both young and old to con jure up the memory of Rizal, Marcelo H. del Pilar, Apolinario Mabini, and all our past heroes whose sacrifices have kindled the torch of national freedom and produced the unity of our race. We do not need to go into details and particulars to prove the scanty cases of un alloyed patriotism that could remind us of the lessons that the ’builders of our nation have left to us. One needs but go over the pages of the history of our past to see the contrast between our leaders of yesterday and our leaders of today. At . this very mo ment we are witnessing scenes of public confusion. The re velations that we read in the columns of our newspapers present to us a dark picture of private and public life apnroaching a state that could be considered chaotic. We should like to think that this is merely a manifestation of the growing pains of a new nation. We should like to be(Continued from page 45) lieve that this is merely the twilight of a brighter day. But again it-would be the height of folly for all of us to sit idly by folding our arms in hope ful anticipation of a happy and prosperous tomorrow. That will not happen without great effort on our part to turn over a new leaf. We like to believe that the Filipino people are a virile people, that we have survived periods of hardship and times of tension and stress. But we should also remember that those were periods when we were not alone, when we were at times struggling against foreign masters and at times cooperating with them. But now we are on our own. We are left standing on our own feet. Is this not the pe riod of greatest difficulty and danger? It has been truly and rightly said that a per son’s worst enemy lies within himself. This thought may equally be applied to a na tion. Our most dangerous enemies are not those outside of us but those within us. Human experience tells us that this is so. Hence, we face today a veritable crisis. It is a crisis in leadership. Good and effective leadership can not be produced by propa ganda, by fine oratorical 52 Panorama INDIAN WORDS IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE NARANJAN SINGH UPPAL English has borrowed, with out any fuss or ado, many words from the various In dian languages. Having ac quired, through usage, rights of full citizenship, they no longer strike a jarring note, dovetailing flawlessly into the body of the language. This process of borrowing has been continuous ever since the seventeenth centu ry, when the English made their first direct contact with India. Territorial conquest and the development of trade were accompanied by philolo gical acquisitions. “I once took the trouble”, said Prime Minister Nehru, “to collect the Hindustani words in the English language THOUGHTS ON THE . . . speeches, by mere demonstra tions of concern for the unfor tunate and the underprivi leged. Let us not be misled by the flattery of friends, for as has been said, our friends may at times prove to be our worst enemies. No nation can go far with men of petty minds. The pet tiness of men in public affairs and in other areas of society threatens to prevent the dev elopment of a strong civic spirit among a people. Petty poltical motives are poor guides even for decisions in the political field itself. But they are worse guides in those fields that should lie complete ly outside the scope of politics. One of these is education. Po litical interference in this field will have the effect of further worsening the present mediocre record of most of our schools. Political deci sions affecting our colleges and universities are bound to depress their academic stand ards. The consequences of such acts constitute a serious May 1962 53 but could not complete the task. But I was surprised to find such a large number of; Hindustani words current in English.” Words from other Indian languages, especially Bengali, Kanarese, Marathi, Gujarati, Malayalam, Tamil and Telegu are also well re presented in the English vo cabulary. According to Lord Mount batten, last British Viceroy of India, “the British mode of life, customs, speech and thought have been profound ly influenced by those of In dia — more profoundly than often has been realised.” The Oxford English dic tionary contains hundreds of THOUGHTS ON THE . . . obstacle to the development of future national leaders who have to be prepared in our In stitutions for higher educa tion. These must enjoy a high degree of freedom if they are to remain centers for the dif fusion and advancement of learning. Then there is another con sideration that we should take into account in a discussio of our nation’s crisis. No country today can live isolated from the rest of the world. In my recent travels in different countries in Southeast Asia, I have been surprised to dis cover that our country has atwords of Indian origin and many thousands of deriva tives. These Indian words can be devided into three main categories: naturals, de nizens and casuals. Naturals are those which have become fully naturalized English words. Denizens include those which have been adopted in to English usage with some changes in form, inflexion or pronunciation. Casuals are those words which are not in habitual use but which, for special or temporary purposes, found their way into the Eng lish vocabulary. The reasons for adopting Indian words in English were varied. Many of them de tracted the attention of many of their people. Their eyes seem to be focussed on us on more than a few occasions. They notice our political movements; they take note of our economic activities; they talk about our educational ac complishments; they read about our social and cultural changes. They may be mere ly prompted by idle curiosity rather than moved by admira tion. But whether it is one or the othert the fact is that their eyes are on us. Incidents of graft and corruption taking place among us are subjects (Continued on vage 56) 54 PANORAMA Eminent English men of letters spiced their writing with Indian words. Thomas Moore introduced his readers to the vina (an Indian string instrument), Edmund Burke, to zenana (in Hindi: the women’s quarters) and to the Urdu begum (a lady of high rank). Shelley used the Ta mil pariah (of low caste) and THOUGHTS ON THE . . . of comment in their news papers. Irregularities in our elections become topics of conversation among their men of affairs. They listen to our claim for our country as a show window of democracy in Asia. While I do not feel certain that they entertain any sincere belief in it, I am convinced that they watch us with critical eyes but with a sympathetic spirit knowing that we are their neighbors and their fellow Southeast Asians. If we could show a record of excellent growth and of good government in this new independent democracy, they could point to us with pride as a demonstration of what a Southeast Asian coun try could do with its freedom. Here then is a responsibility thrust upon us. There is no way to evade it. Whether we like it or not, we are now an integral part of a fast shrinkthe Hindi champak (a species of magnolia), Carlyle, the words jungle (Hindi and Ma rathi: Jangal) and thug (Hin di and Marathi thag: cheat, swindler). Thomas Hood spoke of kerseymeres (trousers made of fine woollen cloth: a cor ruption of Cassimere — or Cashmere — associated with (Continued from page 54) ing world. As we contemplate the pre sent crisis in our nation’s his tory and as we think of its problems and difficulties, we may well remember and heed these words of that great man, Dr. Jose P. Laurel: “Age and experience keep counselling me that, when all is said and done, it is only a sincere and realistic devotion to the high est interests of one’s nation which gives one both courage and patience to wait for the deferred verdict of subsequent events and developments. Many a time, one indeed may be as one ‘crying in the wild erness,’ but the frustrations and even abuse become bear able when one faithfully fol lows one’s unalloyed convic tions about the national wel fare, or better yet the teach ings and counsel of the na tion’s heroes and unselfish leaders of the past.” 56 Panorama
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