Looking back on my interview a week ago, I realized that the more I think about my interests in humanities and literature, the more I wanted to write. Not just blog writing, but to take it to a whole new level and do writing projects that I am interested with. Honestly, I can think of three people who had motivated me to do so: One is my friend Beej, who lead me back to reading and realize why I read a lot of lit about humanities. I think life is too short to follow James Patterson's and Patricia Cornell's literary career. Learning about people and history has more thrill than reading about their brand of suspense.
Second, my friend M. from New York, who after building his own pharm company, went back to writing and created a lot of literary projects for his country (Iran). He wrote fiction, and was duly noted for that. He translated Persian texts and wrote a whole lot of short stories. He moved to the US when he was in high school, threatened by his mom to forget lit, otherwise, he has to pay for his education and then came out to be a successful businessman at the prime of his life. It was an inspiring story and it had showed me that people just have to do the things they deem important in their life and what they perceive as the most effective way to effect change, and somehow, the universe conspires to make it come true.
Third, I just read this book from Atul Gawande entitled Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science. I'm just sorry because I can't really believe this guy wrote a book while doing surgery residency. I also admire his dedication to the medical profession. He writes well, too. I just can't think how he did it. AND he has a wife and I think, two kids. Gosh. It takes a lot of talent, courage and a whole gamut of good qualities to really come up with such a good book.
The whole thought about post colonial literature has also given me PURPOSE in writing. I have read several books in my humanities class about post-colonialism and it did not spark any interest on me. Then I understood about oppression, Social change and class struggle. I started appreciating these subjects when I started to understand the whole deal about EDSA. Before, I used to think that EDSA was just a hype: people throwing out a dictator. I just don't get all the hype and international media coverage. At that time, I thought it happens and to some point people just can't bear it. Anyway, when I learned about martial law, the Marcos regime and the human rights violation, I realized that it is something important and should be made clear what EDSA represented to each and every Filipino. We take our national identity for granted, and a lot of people here in the US would say unsolicited comment about the Philippines and how life will never be better for a lot of pinoys. But then, we should be blamed about it; for looking over the fence and seeking for better pastures. We chose to look for answers elsewhere. It is a personal matter for me, because it was my choice, too.
Funny, because I came to a point of realizing and pondering about this as I watch the TV show Kid Nation. 40 kids in the middle of a desert and struggling to make their small town work. The kids asked if they would want to go home every other show but surprisingly, only 2 have left after 20 days in the desert. They would rather stay and make Bonanza (the town) a better place and work hard with the uncertainty of being rewarded for hard work. (One kid is given a gold star every episode as nominated by the community; it is worth 20,000 in gold). The choice is there. Go home, watch tv and be a kid or work hard, stick to the desert but a possibility of earning money for the future. And at their age, and their Erikson's psychosocial stage of industry vs inferiority, these kids chose to work. Manual labor work. Amazing. It's just unbelievable.
And they stood by their decision. They committed in making the town work.
I had two realizations on this: one, as a smart kid and speaking for those smart kids that I went to school with, we could have chose to be where we used to be and make it a better place. But two, the Marcos regime has stripped our parents the hope of a better Philippines. It set corruption deeply imposed in our moral faculties and it would be impossible to escape in this quagmire of moral depreciation. And the only solution, is to flee. Sadly, we were born to a generation where hope is lost and we were educated to our fullest potential, to find out later on, that our bags are already packed, unknowingly by those who believe that there is nothing can be done and have resigned to our nation's purloined fate.
Second, my friend M. from New York, who after building his own pharm company, went back to writing and created a lot of literary projects for his country (Iran). He wrote fiction, and was duly noted for that. He translated Persian texts and wrote a whole lot of short stories. He moved to the US when he was in high school, threatened by his mom to forget lit, otherwise, he has to pay for his education and then came out to be a successful businessman at the prime of his life. It was an inspiring story and it had showed me that people just have to do the things they deem important in their life and what they perceive as the most effective way to effect change, and somehow, the universe conspires to make it come true.
Third, I just read this book from Atul Gawande entitled Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science. I'm just sorry because I can't really believe this guy wrote a book while doing surgery residency. I also admire his dedication to the medical profession. He writes well, too. I just can't think how he did it. AND he has a wife and I think, two kids. Gosh. It takes a lot of talent, courage and a whole gamut of good qualities to really come up with such a good book.
The whole thought about post colonial literature has also given me PURPOSE in writing. I have read several books in my humanities class about post-colonialism and it did not spark any interest on me. Then I understood about oppression, Social change and class struggle. I started appreciating these subjects when I started to understand the whole deal about EDSA. Before, I used to think that EDSA was just a hype: people throwing out a dictator. I just don't get all the hype and international media coverage. At that time, I thought it happens and to some point people just can't bear it. Anyway, when I learned about martial law, the Marcos regime and the human rights violation, I realized that it is something important and should be made clear what EDSA represented to each and every Filipino. We take our national identity for granted, and a lot of people here in the US would say unsolicited comment about the Philippines and how life will never be better for a lot of pinoys. But then, we should be blamed about it; for looking over the fence and seeking for better pastures. We chose to look for answers elsewhere. It is a personal matter for me, because it was my choice, too.
Funny, because I came to a point of realizing and pondering about this as I watch the TV show Kid Nation. 40 kids in the middle of a desert and struggling to make their small town work. The kids asked if they would want to go home every other show but surprisingly, only 2 have left after 20 days in the desert. They would rather stay and make Bonanza (the town) a better place and work hard with the uncertainty of being rewarded for hard work. (One kid is given a gold star every episode as nominated by the community; it is worth 20,000 in gold). The choice is there. Go home, watch tv and be a kid or work hard, stick to the desert but a possibility of earning money for the future. And at their age, and their Erikson's psychosocial stage of industry vs inferiority, these kids chose to work. Manual labor work. Amazing. It's just unbelievable.
And they stood by their decision. They committed in making the town work.
I had two realizations on this: one, as a smart kid and speaking for those smart kids that I went to school with, we could have chose to be where we used to be and make it a better place. But two, the Marcos regime has stripped our parents the hope of a better Philippines. It set corruption deeply imposed in our moral faculties and it would be impossible to escape in this quagmire of moral depreciation. And the only solution, is to flee. Sadly, we were born to a generation where hope is lost and we were educated to our fullest potential, to find out later on, that our bags are already packed, unknowingly by those who believe that there is nothing can be done and have resigned to our nation's purloined fate.
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