We have been tagged albeit unfairly as imitators of other races and cultures. In more ways we are influenced by the fashion and lifestyles of western countries, chief of which America.

We had developed that mentality of opting to adopt identities of other peoples and cultures. Our fashion had hugely been what we see are being worn by Americans and other western countries.

Apart from the fashion wears we too are fond of the foods and recipes of other countries. We try to like the taste that seems to us imported in lieu of our palatable native dishes. And we try to adopt the technologies that advanced countries had developed in our desire to be in fashion and live the lifestyle of modern people.

Our systems of government and education are likewise a copycat from other countries. We have adopted systems that are often inapplicable to us, failing, we put the blame on us rather than on the system we force adopting. The problem is often in the unfitness of such things which we copy but we copy anyway and effect adjustments on us, taking the system as accurate and perfect as we see them well with the peoples of their origin. We blindly copy without regard to the unique traits that we have as a people which may be incompatible to the system we are adopting.

Then we develop a penchant for modern gadgetry that advance nations show us. We become captive markets of technological products which are dumped to our country. Gullible customers are easily caught in such gadgets that are dependent from their countries of origin for operation and maintenance. We get hooked in the use of such modern things and fall as perennial customers of the industries of such countries.

But in all our tendencies to be imitators, there is one aspect of governance and socio-political life that we must have copied but we continue to fail doing so. We already adopted mostly American ways of fashion, lifestyle, education, governance and technology. Unfortunately, we remain an immature people as we continue to fail to develop the way we see it practiced in other countries, specifically America.

Our democracy, education, government setup and many other aspects of life are in a way copied, mainly from America. The only thing we fail to copy is the kind of democracy they have and their electoral process where winners are known too fast and accurate and losers concede too quickly without blaming or protesting the outcome however and whatever the people’s will be.

In the continuing fight to defend our territory from arrogant bullying of China, our leaders could hardly copy the patriotic stance of its neighbors that assert their right and claim over their territory. The most that had been done so far was seek cooperation from its ally America in the conduct of mutual military exercises aimed at driving away the chinese forces encroaching Philippine territory.
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ON the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord, we are reminded that we should always have heaven in mind, for that is where we came from and where we are supposed to go as our ultimate destination and to have our definitive state of life for all eternity.

But as the readings of the Mass on this Solemnity would also remind us, we should also realize that the way to heaven is to continue carrying out our Christian duties here on earth. (cfr. Acts 1,1-11; Eph 4,1-13; Mk 16,15-20)

In other words, our path to heaven should be our Christian duties here on earth. We therefore have to learn how to unite heaven and earth in our mind and heart, and in our whole life, in their proper order, distinguishing between what is the end and what are the means.

We have to realize then that our earthly affairs are actually designed by God to bring us back to him, and it would be up to us to follow that design or not. Of course, knowing how we are, there is always the tendency to follow simply our own designs rather than God’s. And that’s something we have to be wary of and to correct.

We should be very clear about this basic truth about the world in general or about the whole of nature that has been created by God. We need to realize that as God’s creation, the whole world of nature has been imprinted with God’s laws that are meant to give glory to God and to lead us also to him, giving him glory as well. In other words, depending on how we see the world, it is actually a pathway to heaven, to God.

Everything that we discover and make use of in the world should lead us to ask ourselves whether what we are discovering are truly in accordance to God’s will, to his true designs of the world, and whether we can discern how they can be used to give glory to God, which is a matter of loving him and serving the whole of humanity.

We have to be wary of the danger of discovering and using things simply in accordance to our own understanding of them and also to our own interest only. This is a common and abiding danger that we have to be most wary about. We have to do everything to avoid and overcome that danger.

Thus, we have to develop that strong and deep attitude of always referring things to God before we put our hands on them. That way, we would be putting ourselves on the right track that hopefully will lead us to God and to see and use things the way they should be seen and used.

This attitude, of course, would require us to be guided always by our Christian faith, instead of just being guided by our human estimation of things. And for that faith to be effective in us, we obviously need to be humble. Without humility, there is no way faith can have any effect on us.

Everyday, we should be keenly aware that we need to be fruitful and productive. That’s simply because even from the beginning of our creation in Adam and Even, this has always been God’s will for us.

We should be looking for God always in everything that we get involved in. In all the things that we do or handle, we should be asking what are there in those things that are for God, rather than being interested only on what are there in those things that are for us.