Dear Economics Teacher,
Reaction on Why Our Neighbors are Richer than Us by Randell Tiongson
I
felt like a loser reading the article.
I’m
already aware that our country is somehow poverty-stricken but when it is
compared to other nations, the feeling I get seems different. I have learned
that we are known as The Sick Man of Asia
and clearly this man can’t seem to afford medication because of financial
problems.
I
have to admit, we Filipinos are lazy. That’s probably one reason why we’re not
so progressive. In the article, it had been mentioned that Singapore is obviously
a rich country. Using our naked eyes we can easily tell that Philippines is a
very poor country. Picking up trash seems as if it’s already a hard job for us
and we wait for someone else to do it. I mean, why don’t we just pick the trash
ourselves or start throwing our own garbage in a proper way? It’s the same as
in the economy. If we start saving or being wise in spending our money, we may
have a chance to join our rich neighbors’ party. And if we feel as if we’re
already okay with our lives, that’s the cue to start helping other people. But
most of us just don’t follow this rule. We have this so-called crab mentality that when we see other
people that is much better than us; we tend to pull them down rather than
making them as inspirations.
But
we can’t blame ourselves; I think we got this attitude from the Spaniards who
colonized us. My father told me that colonial
mentality is also one of the reasons why we’re poor. Somehow, in the era
over where our ancestors were colonized by the Spaniards and Americans, they
felt discouraged and lost track of their ethnic pride. Nowadays, a common Juan
would prefer products imported from other countries rather than Philippine
merchandises because he seem to think that Western goods are superior over
ours.
And
we end up making these countries richer than us because we… help them.
See?
Maybe
our neighboring countries are richer than us simply because they love their
country more than anything in this planet. And instead of loving our own
nation, we end up praising others.
We
should stop talking or complaining of how poor we are and start doing what we
have to do: improve our country bit by bit.
And
maybe, The Sick Man of Asia will have
the chance to be healthy again someday.
-----------------I wish you think this essay I wrote is good because I meant everything I said. I could've swore I just shed a tear writing the 5th paragraph.
Seriously.
LOVE,
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