Jose Rizal Was Against A Misguided Notion Of Happiness



The Philippine national hero once said, "Filipinos don't realize that victory is the child of struggle, that joy blossoms from suffering, and redemption is a product of sacrifice." While I couldn't imagine or fully say what his life was but I could imagine people who might have told him in Spanish, "Who are you? A hero?" or, "Well we can't do anything, can we?" to excuse or enjoy their blunder. If Jose Rizal were alive today, I think he might actually dare to slam David Guerrero for his nonsense tagline, "It's More Fun in the Philippines" on his face. If he were alive today, he might also say, "Stop with that nonsense slogan. Why don't you make it a reality?" and maybe he would have written the book, "It's Not More Fun in the Philippines" instead of Noli Me Tangere.

Many Filipinos have this problem that they think they are a nation of happy people when in reality that behind their smiles is a sad, sad nation. Every time there is a problem, I noticed how a lot of Filipinos tend to tell their fellow Filipinos who are trying to tell everyone something's wrong that, "Come in, it's more fun in the Philippines." seeking to use that nonsense slogan as an excuse to ignore their problems. Like just think of all the stupid stuff you can say like "Insert offense" then combine it with "It's more fun in the Philippines." to further justify a culture of dysfunction and impunity. That's why I call David Guerrero's ghastly slogan to be one of the many types of mental opium used in today's Filipino society.

Many Filipinos choose the path of anti-intellectualism because there's such a statement, "Ignorance is bliss." Learning itself can be a painful process because when there's learning there's a struggle involved. The problem is that many Filipinos choose to remain ignorant rather than seek knowledge while bullying Filipinos who seek knowledge. A lack of knowledge can lead to destruction. A good example is that do you know that deadly diseases are spread because people don't know any better. Some people even drink dirty water without being aware of its effects. The ignorance perpetuates a cycle of destruction and if people want to remain ignorant just for the sake of their shallow definition of happiness. All this indifference is why the Philippines continues to be a country that has No Direction.

No victory without struggle. 

What many Filipinos really need to realize is that there's really no victory without any struggle. Many Filipinos today instead of really barking at people who deserve to be barked are angry or upset over trivial issues. Every successful Pinoy is not a result of Pinoy Pride but it's a result of their struggle or hard work. Lydia de Vega was not the world's fastest woman because she's a Pinay but because of her struggle that led to her victory. Michael Christian Martinez got recognized not because he's Pinoy but because he really had a good struggle in where he's good at. If you want to credit any Pinoy for their success and achievement then it's all rooted upon the fact they struggled to get their success. Before Lydia won, she had to strive to be the best runner. Before Cecil Licad became a champion pianist, she had to strive all day and practice her talent. Before one's talent is fully discovered, a lot of striving has to be done.

When it comes to national development, there is always the need for a struggle and you cannot ignore that. When Singapore was still young under Lee Kuan Yew, it was a struggle to get a nation full of unruly, undisciplined people to become the glorious country it's know for today. The problem is so many Filipinos tend to hate the word "struggle" in their vocabulary because they just want to have fun or as said, many want change but many don't want to change. They want to remain in their undisciplined I hate to follow rules lifestyle which in turn hinders progress as a nation. No nation is ever made successful in just one day, it takes a struggle against ideas that need to be thrown out, ideas that need to be placed in and ideas that need to be kept for the sake of national development. Worse, some of them even use their Pinoy identity to justify their blunder and they're even proud of the foolishness they do. Besides, if they want to commit suicide if there will be stricter law enforcement then you know my answer, right?

Edmund Burke said, "All that is required for evil to triumph is for good men to do NOTHING." How true that statement is for just any country. When I thought of why Northeastern China fell into the Japanese hands, it was because they refused to struggle. The Philippines fell into the Spanish rule for almost three hundred years was because a lot of Filipinos refused to do any struggle against the Spanish. It took somebody like Jose Rizal's writings against the abuses of the Spanish through the La Solidaridad to get people's minds awaken. It took a real struggle to throw the Spanish occupation out with the help of the Americans. It took a struggle to overthrow Imperial Japan from all its territories and it took a struggle to rip down Imperial Japan to give way for Modern Japan. What's so upsetting is that many Filipinos today would rather have a good time rather than expose the evils of their country. That kind of attitude has led to the country to be dominated by one stupid regime after the other. Besides, doesn't a nation full of lazy people deserve a lazy ruler?

As the statement goes, "The road to victory is not an easy one." In warfare, what may seem to be the easiest path may be laid in traps. Sometimes, one needs to take a hard to take the path before the enemy can be subdued. Some of the best entrepreneurs didn't start out rich. Bill Gates wasn't always successful before he became known for Microsoft. Jollibee's owner Tony Tancaktiong started off as a simple ice cream parlor businessman. Lucio Tan used to be a janitor while paying for his tuition fees at the Fareastern University. Many people who became successful took a difficult road of struggle before they had their victory. Before one becomes a champion, they had to struggle and receive criticism before they became better than when they started.

Joy blossoms from suffering. 

The lesson of the lotus flower is that it blooms most beautifully where the mud is the thickest. The idea of joy blossoms before suffering is just like the lotus flower. The deeper and thicker the mud, the more beautiful the lotus flower turns out to be. Likewise, many Filipinos need to realize that before there is truly something to savor, there are sacrifices to be made. If there's no victory without a struggle then there's the joy that blossoms from suffering. No, I'm not talking about the nonsense of "making a sacrifice" the wrong way. Instead, I'm talking about when there's the struggle for a better Philippines then one must expect to suffer. If you want to get somewhere, you must expect suffering and overcome suffering.

It's never easy to be a decent Filipino in the midst of Failipinos. You can take the example of the prevalence of rewarding the lazy while punishing the diligent when it should be rewarding the diligent while punishing the lazy. Have you never noticed the pain that any decent Filipino can have when they oppose the stupidity around them? Any decent-minded Filipino might hear the statement, "You are against your own race." when such a person will say, "I may be a Pinoy but I don't support your stupid practices." You might see how decent Filipinos tend to be treated as rejects by a lot of their fellow Filipinos because they reject the prevalent stupidity such as habitual tardiness, overspending, party crashing and the fiesta mentality all done in the name of being "Filipino".

Why are there Overseas Filipino Workers who have a plan? They know that they must not only face suffering but they must overcome it. They don't want to keep remaining as OFWs and as I always say OPEN UP THE ECONOMY. While many OFWs are just Okay, Fine, Whatever which is a good reason why many of them remain poor. Instead of honoring the sufferings they had when they were away and instead of seeking to overcome it, many of the OFW families just waste the money for their own personal needs since they don't understand the suffering that OFW relative had to go through. They just enjoy the money without thinking of the pain that the OFW relative had to go through in order to remit that money to them or to give them their balikbayan boxes. What they need to consider is that they should find their ways to help alleviate their family's situation, not freeride on the OFW who's sending remittances. Otherwise, their joy is just superficial and will die out so shortly in a week or a month or two.

What many Filipinos ignore is the true taste of victory from a struggle that led to that victory. If there's no victory without a struggle then there's no real joy. Does it not feel better if you actually won something fair and square rather than a result of laziness? I still can't forget the little smile I made in my face when I bought a few video games without asking my parents for it because I got it from my hard-earned savings. Many people in the Philippines just take things for granted because they have their Failipino Welfare State Mentality. While I do enjoy receiving stuff but there's a difference between receiving stuff for free and asking them for free. While I got something for free but I didn't necessarily ask for it, it was just given to me. It's quite different from the palibre culture who never know the joy of overcoming suffering.

Redemption is a product of sacrifice. 

Whenever there's a real sacrifice and no not that we must remain poor because of their mentality to celebrate poverty, Filipinos need to learn what these sacrifices are. When there's a quest for redemption, there have to be some sacrifices made in order for that victory and joy in the redemption can be obtained through sacrifices. When there's going to change, there's going to be the need for sacrifices. What should be sacrificed for a better Philippines instead of the nonsensical ideas of sacrifice from other people? There's a lot to give up to redeem the Philippines from a sick man of Asia so it can truly become Asia's next miracle.

I have mentioned earlier about the struggle against the stupidity of the "I hate to follow rules mentality". If people are not willing to give up on the bad habit of not following simple guidelines then as I just said earlier, don't expect progress at all in your country. To be a law-abiding citizen means sacrificing your idiotic mentality that because I'm a Pinoy then I'm proud of doing what I do like being late, celebrating noisily or in short I'm a Pinoy so I show it by my habit of not following simple guidelines. This also means sacrificing one's stupid notion of democracy as a dysfunctional sense of freedom has to be sacrificed for a disciplinary democracy. If you want a clean and orderly place then there's the need to implement reasonable fines for littering. You want better traffic then you better sacrifice your habit of not following traffic guidelines. You better sacrifice off your habits of speeding and not following guidelines if you want to contribute to better traffic. If you want more efficiency as not to waste any time then sacrifice the stupidity of tardiness.

Dropping the habit of treating entertainment as a need and not as a want is badly needed in the country. While other people are really upset over real problems, I couldn't forget the stupidity of the One Direction fans who threw a tantrum at SM Mall of Asia or those who choose to sympathize with Kris Aquino's little life events instead of paying attention to bigger details like the SAF-44 deaths. I don't really care who's coming and even if it's my favorite artist, it doesn't justify their starstruck mindset. Skipping work to see Takeru Sato or skipping school to see Suzy Bae is no different from prioritizing Kris Aquino over everything that's important. It also means it's time to STOP WATCHING KRIS TV (or any local garbage show) and do your homework people. This also means it's time to stop putting so much emphasis on celebrity misfortunes because as tragic as those events are, injustice is injustice and a tragedy is a tragedy. Being a famous person doesn't make the injustice bigger and being a commoner doesn't make the tragedy any less significant because it can happen to anyone. I have nothing against entertainment but as said, it's a want and never a need. This, in turn, will prevent know-nothing celebrities and athletes from dominating most of the government.

Sacrificing one's pride also comes along the way. Never mind if that idiot says, "I'll punch you if you don't accept Pinoy Pride." because as said, Pinoy Pride doesn't help the Pinoy and whoever that idiot is, he or she is just chewing himself with that kind of attitude. Instead, that stupid value of ultranationalism devalues them with the absurdity of the Sariling Atin Only economy. One must sacrifice their wrong notions of what they have learned from the leftists such as the wrong view of economics which ignores basic economic principles. It's time to forget what we were taught of what we were taught is wrong just as one must reject change if it's not for the better. Economic liberalization with reasonable restrictions is change for the better while economic overprotectionism is a change for the worse. In order to embrace change for the better, some things need to be sacrificed for the better good like get rid of your ultranationalism. Leftist ideology is best called leftist idiotology because the whole concept of a welfare state has to be sacrificed because it's just stupid. We better give up the stupid idiotologies of leftist economics in favor of the economics of the first world countries to achieve better scales because foreign investment brought first world countries to where they are now.

Lastly, this also includes sacrificing one's idiotic pessimism. If one cannot sacrifice one's pessimistic views, how can the nation improve? If Lee Kuan Yew were a pessimist, Singapore would not rise up to what it's know for today. If one's a pessimist then they are just won't contribute any help. To contribute solutions, one must be optimistic in spite of all the obstacles that happen here and there. There's always opposition and pessimism means getting opposition from one's self. I doubt it that Lee Kuan Yew was so readily accepted during his time. When one decides to move forward in spite of opposition, it's just like the lotus flower that blooms in the thickest mud or the person who's passed through so much hardship wouldn't be afraid of it. Pessimists need to sacrifice their pessimism if they expect to get a better Philippines.

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