Indolences of the Past in the Present?

photo from google

“Indolence in the Philippines is a chronic malady, but not a hereditary one. The Filipinos have not always been what they are.” -Jose Rizal

   To continue his crusade in awakening his compatriots to their misdeeds during the Spanish Colonization, Rizal authored a very long essay named La Indolencia de Los Filipinos, commonly known as The Indolence of the Filipinos. The Indolence of the Filipinos appeared in La Solidaridad with five installments in 1890. This essay exposed the indolence present in the Filipinos in the past, and can be seen today. Rizal did not proscribe it, but rather he explains why the Filipinos were acting that way. He pointed out that the Spanish reign was the cause behind the disinclination of the Filipinos, and these are as follows:

"In the Philippines one's own and another's faults, the shortcomings of one, the misdeeds of another, are attributed to indolence." - Jose Rizal

First, indolence was often misused in a sense that it denotes a lack of energy and a weak passion for work. Due to the spread of Catholicism in the country, Filipinos always blame the devil in everything that we can't associate with superstitious beliefs. Filipinos assumed that there's something behind all the outcry, and that's to be blamed. We all believed in the presence of miracles, and so we expect that to happen without doing anything.

Second, the tropical climate we have in our homeland impacted the productivity of the Filipinos in their respective professions. Doing your work for an hour under a burning sun is equivalent to a work done in a day when you're in a temperate climate. We have our struggles to work depending on the climate because it influences our productivity throughout the day. Us, Filipinos can't go against nature, so it is can be an acceptable reason.

Third, losing expert workers as they were deployed to different places, which leads to having more unskilled workers in the country. The Spanish officials were making use of the skilled workers to perform jobs they can do as they were beneficial to them. This is also happening in the present, right?

Fourth, the Galleon trade cut off existing trade between the Philippines and China and Southeast Asia which leads in neglecting commerce and agriculture. The Filipinos were forced to work in shipyards, forced to build buildings with little or no pay, destroying the community and killing their passion for their respective works. Their products were heavily taxed, paid cheaply, some get their products for free. As a result, they resort not to be involve in trouble which leads to disinclination to work. 

   There are many causes as stated by Rizal about the indolences of the Filipinos in the past and these which I stated are just the bits of it. Rizal was critical of exposing the details on how we were exploited by the Spaniards in the past. He claimed that the Spaniard were the ones who were lazy due to unwanting manual labor and using the Filipinos as servants of them Some events happened in the past influence the behaviour of the Filipinos. 

photo from clipartxtras

Today...

    Philippines is still struggling due to having majority of its population being ignorant, uneducated and indifferent. Indolence, which is a much-seen habit with an association to poverty, lack of activity, and laziness, is very much apparent today.  Filipinos were often mocked of these negative practices such as gambling, womanizing, and others, which were accepted practices today. Being indolent is somehow part of our lives now, whether we deny it or not. However, these indolences were not present in the early Filipinos based on the accounts as they are productive. They blamed the foreign colonizers as the reason behind the cause of the indolences of the Filipinos. Yes, some Filipinos were indolent, especially the poor, but we must not distrust those who work hard for their families abroad and in the country. We must not point fingers at some people who cannot afford any proper education for being somewhat sluggish as they have no opportunities to grab. Some don't receive any returns from labors, which also fosters indolence. It is also noticeable that some Filipinos chose where they are more convenient, which leads them to be indolent. Maybe the easiest way is more plausible. Concerning the rich people who have the money to employ other people for their businesses, being rich won't mean to act lazy in fulfilling jobs. Having money must not be a reason to act sluggish, the same in being poor.

“Kung pinanganak kang mahirap, hindi mo kasalanan ‘yun. Pero kung namatay kang mahirap, kasalanan mo na yun”. 

We must not judge those who don't have the opportunity to exhibit their potentials. As Filipinos, we must not glorify that being rich means you can act lazy, we must go in accordance to our roles in the society. One must work hard in order to have a better life. We can also take into consideration the other causes of being indolent were being dependent on parents, overconfident of themselves, addiction in technology and lack of performing activities on their respective workplace. Due to the advancement of some technologies, we can't deny that some Filipinos often use their gadget during work or in school to entertain themselves. This resulted to them losing their interest to perform more and effectively. We can lessen the spread of indolence to ourselves by stop practicing these bad habits and start among ourselves and work hard in everything.  The Filipinos must depend among themselves not with others to accomplish something good and have a better life.

"Indolence is a delightful but distressing state; we must be doing something to be happy." -Mahatma Gandhi

References:
The Indolence of the Filipino (pdf)