a t t i t u d e!
Dr. Martin made a very brilliant comparison between a number of countries that indeed, made me think so hard:
I came to realize that a country being rich or poor in natural resources makes no difference.
Japan has a limited territory, 80% mountainous, inadequate for agriculture & cattle raising, but it tops second in the world economy. The country tops in importing raw materials from the whole world and one of the best in exporting manufactured products. Switzerland, on the hand, does not plant cocoa, but has the best chocolate in the world! Isn’t this amazing? In its little territory, they raise animals and plant the soil during 4 months per year. Not enough, they produce dairy products of the best quality! It is a small country that transmits an image of security, order & labor, which made it the world’s strongest, safest place. Executives from rich countries who communicate with their counterparts in poor countries show that there is no significant intellectual difference. Race or skin color are also not important: immigrants labeled lazy in their countries of origin are the productive power in rich European countries. Look at our What is the difference then? The difference is the attitude of the people, framed along the years by the education & the culture & flawed tradition. On analyzing the behavior of the people in rich & developed countries, we find that the great majority follow the following principles in their lives:
2. Integrity.
3. Responsibility.
4. Respect to the laws & rules.
5. Respect to the rights of other citizens.
6. Work-loving.
7. Strive for savings & investment.
8. Will of super action.
9. Punctuality.
10. and of course…Discipline
In poor countries, only a minority follow these basic principles in their daily life. like in our country.
The Philippines is not poor because we lack natural resources or because nature was cruel to us. In fact, we are supposedly rich in natural resources.We are poor because we lack the correct attitude. We lack the will to comply with and follow these functional principles of rich & developed societies. But if we care more for our country, we will do all possible things for us to develop and eventually won’t be blamed for our country’s poor condition.
General Santos Time
3 Comments
March 22nd, 2008 at 12:24 pm
This is a very elaborate and honest entry from you,my dear.I strongly disagree on every letter here.Our country has very,very rich natural resources if being harnessed properly(and not just being harnessed by the corrupt officials).Look at our oil,gold,and other raw materials.We are topnotcher to that!But will the big oil companies invest????NO…because of the too much bureacracy and other monkey business being made under the table.So,they’ll instead go to Brunei or to Malaysia or to Singapore to invest.And look at Singapore?and Malaysia?The Malaysian Ringit is soaring.Back on the 80′s(you can ask our elders),1 peso=2 Malaysian Ringgit(our elders even laugh at their exchange rate before!),but wow,look at them now….1 Malaysian Ringgit=13 to 15 pesos.So,where are we now???We are lagging behind and maybe time will come Bangladesh,Bhutan and other poor countries in SEA will leave us behind!Who knows?This is very critical.If we’ll not change ourselves,we’ll be really left behind….What we shall do now?All i can say again is the change should start on our selves,on our families.It’s very hard to change the minds of the others,because they themselves have their own agenda.Kodus,my friend!Let’s join together and still be proud of being PINOY!!!!
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March 22nd, 2008 at 12:41 pm
@ PRILY: Thanks for the super comment, dear. By the way, anyway, basically, if you were able to read my post very well, i haven’t said anything about our country being POOR in natural resources. In fact, in comparison to other neighboring countries, we have a vast resource of just about everything.
Well, as the post conveys, I was trying to tell that we need to change our ATTITUDES coz it’s the only thing that keeps us so poor. You may agree with me or not, but it’s the hurting truth that stares us in the face.
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March 24th, 2008 at 2:31 am
Ellaine,
Sinabi mo pa! I couldn’t have expressed my grief any better…
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