I was really amused about the feel-good talk that came with the impending approval of the RH Bill. This was another instance of Filipinos taking pride in being losers.
The usual Pinoy alibi – “kawawa naman” is like a switch or trigger that makes Filipinos shut off any form of logic and turn into “kunsintidors” or enablers.
What exactly is being enabled? A loser mentality that’s what. It’s a mentality that fuses attitudes of losers.
POVERTY – IS A CHOICE – A REALLY BAD CHOICE.
Here are the different mentalities being enabled by those who support the RH bill – its sister, the CCT subsidy – and their relatives – all the subsidies being disbursed by the DA, the DOE, the DOST and all the government agencies throughout the land.
The entitlement mentality
First is the entitlement mentality. The entitlement mentality is an attitude where an individual feels the world owes him/her. For instance, Filipinos expect a friend or relative from overseas to bring them pasalubong or treat them to a good time. The reason being that, since they are dollar earners then they should spend for those who are not dollar earners. Just ask any OFW who has to undergo the ritual. Never mind that if one earns dollars overseas, he/she also spends dollars overseas.
Another example would be the relative who feels that because you have a good job, it is your responsibility to send her children to school. Then there are those Pinoy employees who feel they should be promoted just because they were hired earlier than someone else – even if the employee is highly unproductive and has not provided any value to the company and customers.
In the case of the RH bill, the reasoning is that because there are women who had 8 or 10 children , even if not all Filipino women have 8 or 10 children, such women are entitled to taking money away from all Filipinos with jobs and businesses. Never mind that people who have jobs are already spending for their RH, their spouse’ RH, and their children’s RH and education for that matter. Nope, they still have to shell out money that will be disbursed by lawmakers and redistributed to these freeloaders who feel entitled just because they are poor. Huh – and you think only the rich are greedy – heck, the poor are just as greedy!
The victim mentality
The second attitude being enabled is the victim mentality. The victim mentality is an attitude where people feel helpless about their circumstances, they feel powerless to make changes in their lives because they feel that is beyond their control. These are people who have bad health, bad relationships, have so-so jobs and are chronically short of money. They never take responsibility for their actions, their decisions, or themselves. It’s always someone else’s fault.
For instance, people keep on complaining about political dynasties and the corrupt public officials – it’s never their fault that these people got elected by them. It’s not their fault that they voted for these crooks.
In the case of the RH bill, it’s not their fault that they are poor. It’s not their fault they didnt’t go to school. It’s not their fault that they opened their legs. And yet, there are individuals with the same circumstances who made the effort to go to school, who firmly closed their legs, who persisted in pursuing opportunities for growth.
The enabler mentality
Then there’s the enabler mentality aka “kunsintidor” – one who enables others to persist in self-destructive behavior (such as the entitlement mentality and the victim mentality) by providing excuses or by helping individuals to avoid the consequences of unhealthy behavior.
By enabling others to feel entitled to income they did not earn, you are a party to plunder of the income of other people.
By coddling the victim mentality, you don’t help people to learn to stand up for themselves and think for themselves and make a change in their lives. The point being – when you prevent people from taking responsibility and ownership of the circumstances that surround their lives – they will forever be the victims.
By supporting the RH bill, we encourage the continuation of the entitlement mentality and the victim mentality – and condone the unhealthy behaviors that come with such attitudes.
The martyr mentality
Filipinos also like to create martyrs of themselves. They believe they can help other people by sacrificing themselves – including their lovesd ones.
Worse, martyrs feel they can never sacrifice themselves enough – they put their lives on hold and even resort to emotional blackmail to get attention and affection if their sacrifices don’t work.
The RH bill martyrs they believe that by spending on their own RH or their spouse’ RH or their children’s RH only, they are useless. Some would even sacrifice their own RH, their family’s RH then they would find salvation in whatever. In the process the RH Bill martyr has caused misery not just to themselves, but their family as well.
The loser mentality
The common thread that weaves all the previously mentioned mentalities is that these are all the mentalities of losers.
If you listen to these people very carefully you will find these sentences abound in their conversations:
1. If only I had more time.
2. If I had grown up in a rich family.
3. If I had a great paying job.
4. If I had great talent.
5. If I received education from that school.
6. If those opportunities were available to me.
7. If I lived in that house.
8. If I had all that money in the beginning.
9. If I had married her/him.
10. If I had those contracts.
All those sentences would end with “then I would be better off”.
But since those conditions are not given on a silver platter, we need to act to create those conditions for ourselves – to take action.
Plunder and thievery, after all is still action – but taking that which does not belong to you is not acceptable.
It is not enough to take action -we need to take the correct action.
Supporting a bill like the RH Bill that condones and expands the loser mentality is not the correct action to take.
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