Old age syndrome

The oversized indigenous short memory reminds me of a joke of old ladies who celebrate their birthdays annually. They go to the Culture Restaurant every year, together.

At 50 they gather at the restaurant because the coffee is perfectly perked, at 60 because the sautéed fresh corned beef is food to die for, at 70 because the waiters wear tight pants; at 80 because they’ve never been there!

It seems a form of dementia is creeping dangerously among the indigenous elite—a group made up of administration officials and legislators—that try to navigate a canoe, though they’ve never touched a paddle.

The illness is a combination of dyslexia, hypoxia, and amnesia. Officials use culture in speeches but have offered nothing that provides edification—strengthening—of local tradition. Have they ever listened to their towering empty spouts?

For over three decades, the indigenous elite simply failed to create economic opportunities to help households find meaningful employment to earn and bring home the bacon with dignity.

Did we do anything to prevent the loss of a $2.1-billion apparel industry, the exodus of major Nippon investments, e.g., JAL, Nikko Hotel, Ric Tours, and others? Didn’t we simply sleepwalk it, convinced it’s just another passing cotton ball? Wasn’t the investment loss about $5 billion to $7 billion?

This failure was eased and hidden with NAP program in place and SNAP in the near-term. The millions of dollars that come for either program wasn’t money generated here through taxes. It’s another’s creation paid for dutifully by U.S. taxpayers.

Our role is limited to social workers redistributing the largess. That it’s free denies recipients the opportunity to understand the value and meaning of money because they’ve never earned it. The elite did nothing but tacitly acquiesce it because it covers their inadequacies. It did so mindless of its dire unintended consequences.

The self-inflicted hardship was placed against villagers. With joblessness, indeed it’s the answer to any family’s prayer because there’s none from the local government.

We wanted undisturbed progress but how do you define this beast? Why are we so weak and scattered on this and other issues of substance? What’s our value system anyway? Is it resting on the floor of NAP, casino as the dreamed economic mainstay and the accompanying destruction of traditional values? Why have we skipped planning our future? Is permanent dependence your trophy for the multitude hailing from your failed leadership?

With the quiet tool of neo-colonialism leaching everywhere coupled with new money from across the Philippine Sea, the elite has turned many of us into “cornered lapdogs.” They now command, “You go work for BSI then go down to the port and sing ‘Hafa Adai’ to two-by-fours, plywood, nails, cement bags…so we keep our new bosses happy.”

Culture seems a convenient mouthwash as to openly ignore the simultaneous deculturation of indigenous tradition. It’s conveniently treated with inconsequence. Could this be blamed on our agility to fast track the combined illnesses?

Villagers’ decision
In the midst of the deepening abject poverty are the decisions at the village level that focus on family survival. Our families quietly farm, fish, hunt, engage reciprocity where needed, and stretch out as much as they could to help those in dire need.

It’s the lowest level of the economic ladder that is hardly visible from atop imperial I Deni`. Folks simply do what had to be done to endure the inevitable dire condition they’re forced into. Surprising how easily they subdue hardships with bright smiles and confident voices. It’s quiet indigenous resiliency without the elected elite!

Local leadership has accepted the runaway condition as the holy grail of the livelihood of our people. But then what could village folks do when the canoe is steered by people who have never even done traditional navigation? No clue either what a navigational chart looks like.

Deafening the slow but steady building of irreversible and immutable dependency from federal entitlements. So you see why I fear addressing culture given the level of deculturation. But it’s not as bad as Chamolinian culture warriors that recently made another trip to the restaurant, saying they’ve never been there after frequenting the place for 40 years.

Do-nothing culture
At a coffee shop I overheard two friends talking about a new illness they call “right brain syndrome.” So it is clear, the right side of the brain gives you the ability to tell right from wrong.

When you’re into “No Good Land” the left side starts tooting the warning sign. The dysfunction has reached unprecedented level.

Another said it’s good to place them on our radar screen so “we don’t bother them in what they do best—nothing!”