To All My Fellow Filipinos Abroad: We Carry our Flag too, Just Like Martinez in Sochi

Philippines' flag bearer, figure skater Michael Christian Martinez, leads his national delegation during the Opening Ceremony of the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics.
2014 AFP
I was reading about Christian Martinez, the only Southeast Asian Olympian at the Sochi Winter Olympic Games. And... He is a FILIPINO. :) Competing in a prestigious INTERNATIONAL game and alone. Man, it takes a lot of guts to be there. People viewing around the world will see you, judge you. The feeling of stepping in a foreign soil alone for the first time? New rules, new faces, new language. And yet, Martinez should stay focus on what he know he do best: Skating. It's very hard to focus with a LOT of stuff going on. Of course I am a proud Pinoy here. I feel for him. Well, kinda, because I felt exactly the same when I first arrived here in Singapore. Though I didn't marched out the airport with a Philippine flag on my hands, and not a lot of people waiting for me to come out from the arrival hall, well, I did had the subtle smile on my face too. Because I came here knowing that this foreign country hired me on the sole purpose of what I know I do best: Teaching. (Cue sound: Roar by Katy Perry)

It's quite difficult on different levels when you are a foreigner in different country. I think more difficult if you are a Filipino. We have to work extra-hard to prove ourselves.Our background isn't that nice to start with: 

Foreigner: Where you from?
Me: Philippines.
Foreigner: Oh. (Thinking if he/she should talk about how corrupt our government, our beaches (Cebu or Boracay), or the hostage taking in Manila that our Police Force really screwed that time--a popular topic of taxi drivers)

Filipinos are known to be light (on different levels too). When I am faced with this quite shameful facts about our country, I would bounce back with a humorous answer or just brush it off and not be defensive. Filipinos knows how to answer with a smile (beauty pageant contestants,our politicians, Manny Pacquiao after beaten up would still answer questions with a smile!) even with a very difficult and embarrassing questions. 

Also, Filipinos are positive people generally. We smile and see the light even in the darkest times.
Source: Ming Hui Guan went to a slum in Cebu City in the Philippines for this picture of some laughing children playing in a Jeepney 

Typhoon Haiyan survivors smile as they approach a helicopter bringing relief goods Nov. 19 at a village in the Tolosa province of Leyte, Philippines. Ten days after one of the most powerful typhoons ever recorded, some residents of remote villages where the storm made landfall in the central Philippines, said they were still waiting for aid.
Typhoon Haiyan survivors smile as they approach a helicopter bringing relief goods Nov. 19 at a village in the Tolosa province of Leyte, Philippines. Ten days after one of the most powerful typhoons ever recorded, some residents of remote villages where the storm made landfall in the central Philippines, said they were still waiting for aid. Source
But sometimes, when we are in a foreign soil for a (very) long time, we forget this. We forget that we are light people. We forget where we came from. We forget that we, as Filipinos, are generally humble. Remember we make a fool at people who are "Mahangin"? ('Mahangin' is windy in English. It means bragging or boasting, big talker but empty words)

So to my fellow Filipinos. Let's always remember where we came from. What we are. What our parents thought us.We are resilient, hard-working human beings. Remember the rich history of Philippines and how we got our freedom and democracy (It's one bloody history). 

We carry our flag too. And let's make our kababayans damn proud. 




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