Belt-tightening? Bring It on!

Just last night on the news, Malacañang has given word to Filipinos to do some more belt-tightening. This is in the light of the massive economic slump in the Land of Plenty.

Geez, so what else is new?

We have weathered the fiercest typhoons, the most violent earthquakes, several political upheavals, military coups, dictatorships, numerous human rights violations, food shortages, pestilence, civil strife -- almost every natural and man-made catastrophe ever imagined.

And yet we're here with belts cinched to approximate Barbie's waistline, and still as sturdy as ever. May ngiti pa sa labi.

Government no longer has to warn us of dark times ahead. It's already dark as it is. Despite this, Filipinos can simply laugh off these problems or drown them with a bottle or two of beer/tuba/lambanog/any other local alcoholic drink.

This is how resilient Filipinos are.

I guess we have just gotten used to swimming in deep fecal matter already that we have developed an immune system for these kinds of onslaughts.

I can't say the same for people in the Land of Plenty, though. I'm sure incidences of suicide over there are rising again.

And even before this specter of an economic slowdown occurred, many of their kids have already been cutting themselves simply for the heck of it, then they would blame their parents for their pathos.

Disaster management simply isn't one of their strongest points.

See what happened to them when a strong hurricane struck, and when terrorists blew off to Kingdom Come one of their primary landmarks one day in September?

Chaos.

Filipinos have seen worse. We get hit by typhoons almost on a monthly basis, and the same terrorists who destroyed their Twin Towers even trained for warfare here. But we don't go whining like crybabies.

Or cut ourselves.

I know we'll survive this. We always do. We Filipinos may not be perfect: we have an immature democracy, the line that separates the rich from the poor is very distinct, we bicker, we are sometimes lazy, etc. However, when pushed to the limit, Filipinos learn to act as one.

It's no small wonder that Ninoy Aquino said those immortal words: "The Filipino is worth dying for."

Given all our shortcomings, we are still a proud and resilient race.

And thus I say to the so-called incoming economic crunch, BRING IT ON!