Pinay
wins it big in London
By
Alfred Yuson
The
Philippine Star 05/16/2004
Patricia
Evangelista, a 19-year-old, Mass Communications sophomore of University of the
Philippines(UP)-Diliman, did the country proud Friday night by besting 59 other
student contestants from 37 countries in the 2004 International Public Speaking
competition conducted by the English Speaking Union (ESU) in London.
She
triumphed over a field of exactly 60 speakers from all over the
English-speaking world, including the United States, United Kingdom and
Australia, reported Maranan.
The
board of judges‚ decision was unanimous, according to contest chairman Brian
Hanharan of the British Broadcasting Corp. (BBC).
PATRICIA'S
SHORT SPEECH WORTH READING....
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
BLONDE
AND BLUE EYES
When
I was little, I wanted what many Filipino¬?children all over the country
wanted. I wanted to be blond, blue-eyed, and white.
I
thought -- if I just wished hard enough and was good enough, I'd wake up on
Christmas morning with snow outside my window and freckles across my nose!
More
than four centuries under western domination does that to you. I have sixteen
cousins. In a couple of years, there will just be five of us left in the
Philippines, the rest will have gone abroad in search of "greener
pastures." It's not just an anomaly; it's a trend; the Filipino diaspora. Today, about eight
million Filipinos are scattered around the world.
There
are those who disapprove of Filipinos who choose to leave. I used to. Maybe
this is a natural reaction of someone who was left behind, smiling for family
pictures that get emptier with each succeeding year. Desertion, I called it. My
country is a land that has perpetually fought for the freedom to be itself.Our
heroes offered their lives in the
struggle against the Spanish,the Japanese, the Americans. To pack up and deny
that identity is
tantamount to spitting on that sacrifice.
Or
is it? I don't think so, not anymore. True, there is no denying this phenomenon,
aided by the fact that what was once the other side of the world is now a
twelve-hour plane ride away. But this is a borderless world, where no
individual can claim to be purely from where¬he is now. My mother is of Chinese descent, my father is
a quarter Spanish, and I call myself a pure Filipino-a
hybrid of sorts resulting from a combination of cultures.
Each
square mile anywhere in the world is made up of people of different
ethnicities, with national identities and individual personalities. Because of
this, each square mile is already a microcosm of the world. In as much as this
blessed spot that is England is the world, so is my neighborhood back home.
Seen
this way, the Filipino Diaspora, or any sort of dispersal of populations, is
not as ominous as so many claim. It must be understood. I come from a Third
World country, one that is still trying mightily to get back on its feet after
many years of dictatorship. But we shall make it, given more time. Especially now,
when we have thousands of eager young minds who graduate from college every
year. They have skills. They need jobs. We cannot absorb them all.
A
borderless world presents a bigger opportunity, yet one that is not so much
abandonment but an extension of identity. Even as we take, we give back. We are
the 40,000 skilled nurses who support the UK's National Health Service. We are
the quarter-of-a-million seafarers manning most of the world's commercial
ships.We are your software engineers in Ireland, your construction
workers
in the Middle East, your doctors and caregivers in North America, and, your
musical artists in London's West End.
Nationalism
isn't bound by time or place. People from other nations migrate to create new
nations, yet still remain essentially who they are. British society is itself
an example of a multi-cultural nation, a melting pot of races, religions,arts
and cultures. We are, indeed, in a borderless world!
Leaving
sometimes isn't a matter of choice. It's coming back that is. The Hobbits of
the shire traveled all over Middle-Earth, but they chose to come home, richer
in every sense of the word. We call people like these balikbayans or the
'returnees'-- those who followed their dream, yet choose to return and share their
mature talents and good fortune.
In
a few years, I may take advantage of whatever opportunities come my way. But I
will come home. A borderless world doesn't preclude the idea of a home. I'm a
Filipino, and I'll always be one. It isn't about just geography; it isn't about
boundaries. It's about giving back to the country that shaped me.
And
that's going to be more important to me than seeing snow outside my windows on
a bright Christmas morning.
Mabuhay.
and Thank you.
