Less burdened by the weight of the past, I see great promise amongst the younger people of the world. As is often the case, it is the idealism of the youth that has shown the rest of us the way forward. These have already been apparent in mass public demonstrations of students, including the “March for Our Lives” rallies which drew hundreds of thousands in a movement against gun violence in America. The American youth challenged the all-powerful NRA. They shouted down America’s government leaders who, intimidated by the NRA, have protected the strong gun lobby to the point of absurdity. In the UK, it is likewise the youth who are against Brexit, much as it is the Filipino students who are against Duterte and who marched in the streets when the government decided to bury Ferdinand Marcos in the Libingan ng mga Bayani (Heroes’ Cemetery). I therefore look to our growing youth population to lead the world into greater openness.
The much maligned “millennials” may simply be crying out for moderation and balance in the workplace; for quality of life over the maximising of monetary gains. They may well be arguing, that money might beget more money, but money doesn’t create value. In the Philippines, these “millennials” are shedding some of the destructive effects of collectivism, choosing their own paths forward rather than relying uncritically on tradition. This should replace the old idea of “my tribe or my country, right or wrong”.
The “Me Too” movement of women against sexual assault and harassment has likewise been very encouraging for me. It was not too long ago when overt sex discrimination was practised at my own workplace, and we women had no alternative but to simply play by the rules of the game as much as we could and, if management practices were no longer tolerable, to simply opt out of the system. It was precisely my experiences at the business school where I taught that made me exit organisational life in order to venture out on my own. I do not for a single moment delude myself into thinking that the “Me Too” movement will revolutionise the status of women but it has undoubtedly raised awareness of sexual harassment, and the “green” jokes of my superiors in my earlier years would certainly be unacceptable today. As pundits say, change is coming, but one step at a time.
Perhaps what we need more than ever is to create unifying ideas in order to bridge the still deep chasms around us. Like it or not, all the cultures of the world now live together, and there is no turning back. In the earlier periods of Western history, it was the inclusive Roman citizenship of their client states pledging loyalty to Rome that united the empire. When Rome fell, this unifying role was taken over by the institution of their religion—the Catholic Church—so that by the middle ages, it had quickly spread to the rest of the continent and beyond.
An example of a unifying element today could be that of language—English as the lingua franca of the world, with its thousands of permutations, not only in the world of commerce but in everyday life. There will be no posh Queen’s English, but only dialects spoken in various regions of the UK or America. In addition to “standard English”, there will be Singlish (Singaporean-English), Taglish (Tagalog-English), Spanglish (Spanish-English), Denglish (German-English), and other versions spoken in different places around the globe. It is helpful that as many people posit, English is easy to speak badly. Thus, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) predicts that by 2020, there will be over two billion people who will be using English in one form or another. That is a quarter of the global population! The way language influences our worldview cannot be over-estimated, and it is perhaps through language that we hope to find our similarities.
Instead of a fractured citizenry, we can remember Robert Kennedy’s philosophy, that power resides in a group united by a common vision. Instead of defining “in-group” as opposed to “out-group”, our patriotism must be about inclusions, and our stories about our common struggles, successes, and aspirations. Then, I, an outsider, and other amphibians like me, will feel truly at home.
Part Three
Photo Captions
Plate 1
a) Just as we ourselves are not standing still, so it is also that the world around us doesn’t stand still. The New York City I knew and loved when I lived there in the 1970s is no longer the same metropolis. During a visit, I missed the landmark PAN AM Building on 42nd St. and Park Avenue; and the new One World Trade Center (photo above) built after 9/11 was startlingly unfamiliar. The whole landscape in downtown Manhattan had become unrecognisable.
b) Philippine Insurrection 1898–1902: an inscription on the side of the Iwo Jima Memorial located in Arlington, Virginia, USA. Indeed, history is written by the victors. Still, out of respect for the sensibilities of the vanquished, even American writers today refer to this period as the Philippine–American War.
Plate 2
a) I am now far from that naive twenty-four-year-old guide at the United Nations Headquarters of 1973. That was a fun and carefree year. I was attracted by the supposed glamour of the job, and talked only about dates and new restaurants. However, I was soon back at university, entertaining other dreams.
b) By the mid-1980s, I would be conducting classes on career management for women managers, fully cognisant of the difficult obstacles in our working lives that many of us must surmount.
c) President Corazon Aquino encourages us, the founding members of Women for Women Foundation (WOW). Our aim was for more senior women managers to mentor the aspiring ones. Lack of mentorship was identified as one of the key problems women in organisations faced.
Plate 3
a) Our Lady of Victory Church, built in commemoration of our Lady’s role in saving our town from the supposed raiding expeditions of the Moro (Muslims from Mindanao Island) pirates. For the longest time, the church was covered with scaffolding. It is now finally finished and is located at one side of the town plaza.
b) Our Lady of Victories Church in Kensington High Street, London—the similar-looking parish church where I regularly go every time I am in London. Set back some distance from the busy street, it is a place of peace and contemplation.
c) A Nordic-looking Sta. Veronica, holding a kerchief with the imprints of the face of Christ whose bleeding head she had wiped as he carried his cross to Calvary. The bigger than life-sized icon was the family contribution to the parish processions during Holy Week each year. My grandmother would gather a group of women to lovingly decorate the float, mostly with sheer nylon fabric and artificial flowers. A portable generator made the float glow bright in the otherwise dark night. What I remember as I processed beside it, however, was the punishing heat, dust, and noise!
Plate 4
a) St. Thérèse of Lisieux, my favourite saint, whose icon is found at Our Lady of Victories Church in Kensington. Although I cannot aspire to her great love and singular devotion to Jesus Christ, I admire her childlike simplicity and her unwavering trust in him.
b) Our wedding in Manila in 1979. When my husband was informed that his friend, a German priest, would not be able to conduct the ceremony without us having to repeat it before a Filipino judge, Klaus responded that he would then ask the Filipino Cardinal himself. The photo shows Jaime Cardinal Sin performing the rites with the German Fr. Theo Herzog on the extreme right assisting him. When asked how he was able to meet and persuade the Cardinal not only to officiate, but also to have the event held in his personal chapel, (snuggly fitting our twenty guests), Klaus replied, “Chutzpah”!
c) Devotion to saints, and in particular, to the Virgin Mary, is a popular cult in the Philippines. This photo shows demonstrators during the so-called EDSA Revolution raising the icon of the Blessed Mother before the soldiers in order to entice them to lay down their arms. Saying the Rosary is an almost universal form of prayer in a country that remains overwhelmingly Catholic. (Photo taken from People Power: The Philippine Revolution of 1986, published by the James B. Reuter Foundation.)
Plate 5
a) Like most people, I like celebrating important anniversaries. I am also attracted to the ritual
of the Catholic Holy Mass. Above is a photo of a chapel on the ground floor of my condominium building where I celebrated my sixtieth birthday in 2007.
b) My sixtieth birthday party, attended by sixty guests, held in a function room next door to the chapel.
Plate 6
a) Life usually throws its punches, it seems, when we are most ill-prepared. Just as I was enjoying my new-found freedom, finally feeling financially secure, at peace with my marriage and my family, new troubles were brewing. Living alone in Germany, Klaus’s health progressively declined until he became incapacitated. The next three years were to prove extremely challenging. Not only did Paul and I have to cope with his illness, but also with his very difficult legal guardian, and what I thought was an unjust German family law and court system. With frequent visits to Germany, our respite lay in going out for meals, which Klaus enjoyed.
b) Klaus reported that one day, he was “kidnapped” from his flat where he had a full-time caregiver, and forced to live in an old-people’s home. We tried our best to make him feel comfortable in his new place, transporting his favourite pieces of furniture, various collected items, and other familiar bric-a-brac. In the photo above, he fools around, imitating Humphrey Bogart in the film Casablanca.
c) Our last family photo, taken on Christmas Day 2015, after lunch at the Hof zur Linde Restaurant-Hotel in Münster. Five months later, he would be dead.
Plate 7
a) Looking into the future, I wonder where the Philippines is heading. President Duterte won by a landslide in the presidential election of 2016, currently retaining an approval rating of approximately 80%. Yet, he continues to undermine the strength of Philippine institutions, so necessary for the adequate functioning of the nation.
b) In Western Europe, democracy has been simplistically reduced to freedom to vote and freedom to march in public demonstrations. It has been shown, however, that the public can be misled by populist demagoguery. Observe what had happened to the referendum on Brexit, with the spread of false information or “fake news” skewing the results of the vote. My own opinion is that intentionally disseminating false information should be made a major legal offence.
Plate 8
The way to Santiago de Compostela in northern Spain. To me, a pilgrimage is about process rather than destination. It is about the search for the way rather than reaching where we want to go. Spiritual more than religious, it is food for my soul—a search for peace nourished through meditation, reflection, and prayer.
Epilogue
“Some people see things as they are and ask, why;
I dream of things that never were and ask why not”.
Robert F. Kennedy
Some years ago, I purchased a pre-development flat in Manila, serviced by an international hotel attached to it and within a short walking distance to a large hospital. I thought this would be a perfect old-age home for me. As mentioned elsewhere, I live alone, and had seen my mother and my husband develop dementia. In a country with no market demand for retirement homes—it is still expected that old people live with their families—my plan is to move to that flat if and when the time comes for me to employ a caregiver. Except for my caregiver, I can then manage without the help of domestic helpers, as the hotel will have the services of car and driver, cleaning women, cooked food from their kitchen, and maintenance services. Additionally, with the hospital around the corner, nurses and other medical staff can walk over without having to worry about the horrific traffic situation in Manila.
It has now been almost five years since I purchased —on-ninety-day cash—my supposed “retirement flat”. According to the contract of sale, the apartment should have been ready for occupancy a couple of years ago. Further, the contract stipulated that the developer of the apartment building would be liable to penalties in cases of delays on the turnover of the units to their buyers. Likewise, the marketing brochure given to me at the time of purchase showed a list and photographs of appliances supposedly included in the units. Samples of construction materials on option were neatly laid out next to their model units.
I am now told these documented promises will not be kept. No penalties for delayed turnover will be paid, and appliances identified in the brochure will no longer be supplied, nor have the buyers any options for materials used.
As described in this book, there is a lack of mature and functioning institutions in the Philippines. Through various means at their disposal, the rich and the powerful can easily circumvent the law, and the agencies tasked on their implementation are often too weak and confused. The developer is a corporation controlled by one of the richest families in the country, and when I followed up on my complaint, the customer services department told me simply that management had said no.
I reason to myself, I am over seventy years old. This is no longer my fight. I will leave it to the next generation to decide what kind of country they wish to have. If they want justice and fairness to all, they can then fight in order to build strong institutions.
To my son, my nieces and nephews, grand nephews and grand nieces, I dedicate the children’s fable below. They will, I hope, find wisdom in it.
PAUL AND THE EVIL DRAGON: A Children’s Fable
Paul lived in a small country ruled by an evil dragon. It would have been a beautiful country, except that the dragon cast a magic spell over all the inhabitants. They became lazy and dishonest, weak, and constantly sick. For example, if by mistake you left your beloved pet chick outside the barn after nightfall, the chick would have disappeared the next day, stolen by the neighbour next door. Perhaps, just for the fun of it, they would have left some feathers so you would have known it had been cooked and eaten.
Everybody was unhappy in that country. “If only the dragon were dead,” the old people would say, “everyone would be well and happy again.” They remembered what the country was like before the dragon came.
Paul heard many stories about the old times from his sick grandfather.
“Before the dragon came,” said his grandfather, “we always had sunshine in this country, with just enough rain to water the flowers. You could hear birds singing the whole day. Now, nothing grows and the birds stay away. As you can see, it always rains, but even when it rains, it’s hot because the pouring hot mud comes from the belly of the dragon. During the summer, we cannot breathe the putrid air that comes from its mouth. We have become hungry and poor.”
“I am big and strong,” Paul told himself, “I can slay the dragon.” He wanted his mother and father and his little sister to be healthy and happy again.
And so, Paul dreamt day after day, when he was awake and when he was asleep, about slaying the dragon. His problem was, he didn’t know how. He had never seen the monster. In fact, nobody had, for it lived on top of a high mountain. The whole country could only hear its breathing, especially when it snored at night. And everyone could see the fire of its breath.
One day, as he was going to the lake to bathe, he met an ugly old hag. “Tell me, old hag,” he asked, “which is the way to the dragon’s lair?”
“What do you want to go there for?” the old hag wanted to know.
“I want to slay the dragon. I want to know where it lives and how to get there.”
“It’s not as easy as you think,” replied the old hag. “Many brave young men had tried to do it before you, and the dragon destroyed them, all of them. Look at me! I was once a beautiful maiden, skilled in witchcraft. I thought, like you, that I could enchant the dragon and lure him to his death. But the dragon is very powerful. He stole away my soul and my will to fight. What makes you think you’re different from us all?” Paul looked up at her flashing dark eyes. He did not have an answer.
“I have a secret to share with you,” she continued. “You cannot slay the dragon with spears and arrows for the dragon has many tentacles instead of legs. If you slay one, two will grow in its place. You have to learn how to get insid
e it.” With that parting remark, the old hag left Paul, never looking back even after Paul called and ran after her, pleading to tell him some more.
Paul mulled about this day after day. He became more and more frustrated. Conditions in his country were getting worse and he was no nearer to the solution of his problem. He started dreaming of other places. One day, he decided to run away. As neither his family nor his friends wanted to go with him—for who knows what strange places might hold for them—he had to go by himself.
He travelled for a long time, sleeping under the stars at night and eating berries and other fruits that he found along his way.
One morning, he saw from the distance a big crystal dome. As he came nearer, it started to rain and the air around him got colder and colder. The rain turned into snow and then into a blizzard. Paul didn’t know what to do. He would soon freeze unless he found shelter. As he approached the giant dome, he saw a door. Furiously, he knocked and knocked. His knuckles grew numb and he felt weak. Just as he was going to faint, someone opened the door and beckoned him in.
“What are you doing out there?” asked a gruff voice. “Didn’t you know it’s prohibited to leave the safety of the dome?”
When Paul recovered, he realised he was alone again. Then, his eyes nearly popped out of his head for, right in front of him, was a city of gold! The streets were paved with gold, houses were made of silver, traffic lights were made of emeralds and rubies! And oh, it was so warm and comfortable! He smiled at every person he met in the streets and hurried to the first tavern he saw, for he was very thirsty.
When Turtles Come Home Page 23
