Apr 21, 2011 18:31
I should create a new rule for this blog: No waxing poetically on larger, social issues, such as Filipino diaspora, for example. I wanted this blog to be self-contained, more of a diary for myself than for others. But before I instate that rule, I just want to share my musings on such a topic, as I feel it grow increasingly relevant for me day by day.
Perhaps it's in the blood of all Filipinos, as F. Sionil Jose postulates in his novel "Viajero". This wanderlust, this desire to experience new places. We certainly did not spring out of Filipino soil or wash ashore; the early Filipinos probably came from somewhere else, from mainland Asia most likely. And our lives aren't ending on a single island either. Migration is rampant between the Philippine islands themselves; people going from one island to another, looking for better and better places and opportunities. The movement is more Manila-centric; nevertheless, you do see a lot of moving around.
Motility, the ability to travel, is a mark of the middle-class Filipino, one who is perhaps supposed to be highly-regarded. While foreigners tend to stick to the more tourist-y destinations, The Filipinos love going around the country, anywhere and everywhere. To their long-lost hometown perhaps, or to a distant local festival, or to a beach to just relax.
But our movement is not limited to the 7,100 islands alone; We extend our travels to all corners of the world. Sometimes migration is not voluntary, but in general, our cultural aspirations lie outside the country, to explore bigger places and opportunities. We have a culture of migration, looking outward, beyond ourselves. We are forever looking westward, towards the horizon, beyond our tiny little island.
Perhaps it was because we've always felt freedom, boundless. We are surrounded by the sea, limitless and omnipresent. Nothing solid like borders to keep up from moving, from going outward, from traveling. I would not be surprised if the early Filipinos sailed of to other lands and found themselves assimilating easily to another culture.
We are like the sea, and now the world is slowly being engulfed by us. You find us all over the world; in ships, on planes, everywhere our feet and visas will take us. So perhaps there is nothing sad, nor tragically heroic, in our leaving for distant shores. Perhaps it is just in our nature. We are just looking for our islands in this lonely sea of the world.
fil-ams,
diaspora,
writing,
immigration,
seattle