A few months ago, I was standing with my back against the counter in our office pantry when an older colleague came in and made himself a cup of coffee. I was drinking tea. As he was stirring his coffee, he congratulated me on working abroad at such a young age. He said it was a “good thing” because I would see everything back home from a wider perspective.
The people back home, according to my colleague, are “self-absorbed.”
We always complain but we never try to look at things from the point of view of the world. He said people make it appear that government is always wrong and can never do anything right.
I was silent, however, I just could not agree with him.
Perhaps it’s true. Taking a step back does give one a larger view of things, but it also makes you more detached. When people suffer in chaos, the fate of the people that fell flat beneath the rubble, you would know nothing about.
However, it’s always easy for us to point to an answer when the problem does not concern us.
These days, we still have those conversations at the pantry. We still discuss certain news stories from back home and we both expressed our dismay at the situation in Marawi City. We also recognized how the rise of the dirham benefits us as overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), but it does not do the country any good.
We have the same stance on a number of issues but we disagree on one thing – a wider perspective is not always better.
Being “self-absorbed” as a people when war is a few miles away is understandable.
Being “self-absorbed” when decades of past president have passed and yet the same promises are still unfulfilled is understandable.
Being “self-absorbed” is not a character flaw.
If we don’t think of our nation, if we don’t speak for our people, if we don’t stand against our government when leaders act like tyrants, then who will?/WDJ