Persecution complex

The thing that has always perplexed me is how certain Filipinos just cannot seem to summon the courage to believe in their own government, to trust that, in the end, it is still working for the interest of everybody. Citizens of other countries in our neighborhood look to Filipinos with envy, seeing how free we are to do just about anything, even to the point of trying to destroy our own government in the name of freedom.

And then I stumbled upon the realization why some Filipinos are this way. And it is that some of us suffer from a persecution complex born of long centuries of foreign domination that when we finally broke that yoke and became free, the unfamiliarity of freedom made some suspicious. Looking around, who do they see with the power to dominate but their own government. And so they see it as the enemy.

The effects of foreign domination have become so engrained in the psyche of some that they begin to imagine it even if they have become free. Keep a bird in a cage long enough and it will not fly out even if you open the gate. And that is why some people will always have issues with things like ABS-CBN or the anti-terrorism law. Because they think the government is always up to something devious or sinister, even if it is only doing its job.

What makes things worse is that not only are some Filipinos hopelessly mired in this persecution complex, they are also irrepressible imitators. One cannot set up a small business anywhere in the Philippines without waking up the next day and finding the entire street engaged in the very same business. This country is the worst place to come up with an idea, good or bad.

The confluence of persecution complex and irrepressible imitation in some Filipinos probably makes for the single biggest obstacle why government cannot flex its real potential to direct this country to the real growth and maturity it deserves. When some Filipinos stood up to Ferdinand Marcos, the feeling of exhilaration at finally being able to challenge authority became intoxicating and addictive.

So even long after Marcos had gone, some Filipinos cannot forget the high and began looking for it but could no longer find it anywhere except, conveniently, like Everest because it is there, in their own government. And so government is ceaselessly suspected and attacked, for no other reason than it has become fashionable to do so.

Persecution complex, boosted by irrepressible imitation is highly contagious for the high it brings. Look at some of those college kids, many of them not even having yet written something that made real sense, or much less stepped inside a real newspaper office, beating their breasts about press freedom as if they know what it is or how it works. The temptation is great to tell them to be a reporter first and find out "the real truth" from within.

Nothing is perfect in this world, including governments. The government, in its bigness, can sometimes step on our toes. But it is our government. And in a democracy, it is of us, by us, and for us. If we cannot trust some of its officials, at least let us trust that, eventually it will right itself. Just like all things done in sincerity, it will always find its moment of redemption.