September 24, 2002

     APPREHENSIONS……Nothing else filled my mind but apprehensions when I first jumped into the midst of what they called being a “Health Care Provider” in the United States. It manifested itself as questions; questions like, “Am I good enough?” “How different is it compared to my experience and training in the Philippines?” “Will they be looking down at me?” “How about racism?”

     Oddly enough, I felt like a fish out of water. I thought I was pretty good, when I left my training ground in good ole’ WVSU. Now I am suddenly faced with technology I have never seen before, people with different customs and ways, and American slang plus “ebonics” to fathom. Of course, like everybody else who migrates, you have to contend with adjusting to a different culture and the vagaries that go with it.

     True, we had the disadvantage of not getting enough exposure with new technologies and treatments. But this is not hard to learn as you use it daily. True, we act and talk a wee bit different, but eventually we get to catch their drift and get along with their chat. True, our color is different, and most of the time we’re the shortest guys in the staff, but later they see that you can shine and rise above the rest if you willed it.

     So what separates us? La-in gid kita iya sang sa iban. Iba talaga ang Pinoy.

     Malleability. We Pinoys can adjust, mold and remold ourselves in any circumstance. Go to any corner of the globe and you will find one of us eking out a living. We can make the most out of every circumstance. Even if we are different, we modify and fit. Other ethnic groups have great trouble doing this, and they never fit in. Kahit inaapi, bumabangon. Kahit mahirap, lumalaban. Sadly sometimes, it ends up like if you can’t beat them, join them. Maypagkabalimbing. Like our politics back home, you have no permanent friends and enemies, and you side with whoever is strongest. But see, sometimes, you have to surrender for a season so you can fight another day. And when the opportunity comes we know how to seize it and rise above our concerns.

     Ambition. “Mababa ng klaseng tao lang tayo”, this is what we might feel, inferiority complex, “at mababa ang kaligayahan”. Pero, sa totoo, malayo at mataas naman ang tanawin. Taas noo pa rin sa loob. We may start off living in a relative’s house in the floor till we can afford a futon. Then later an apartment, then before you know it, you have saved and suffered enough to purchase your own house in the ‘burbs (plus a downtown condo). First you walk to work, then take a bus, then buy a second hand car, then suddenly wake up to a garage with your Chedeng, Lexus or Bimmer. At times, this drive may be due to an awakening of what we never experienced or imagined back home, but now we can actually afford and do what we want to do. Easily misconstrued as pride and bugal, these things are but a necessity here, and a reward to oneself for the years of depravity overcome by hard work.

     Industriousness. Ask any immigrant Pinoy Nurse, PCT, seaman, computer programmer, Japayuki, DH or any overseas contract worker; Masmapisan gid kita iya nga Pinoy. Sometimes our being naive, dumb or lack of experience can be coped by our being hard-working. Not everybody of course, but as a rule, Pinoys overseas have no choice but to work hard. Not just because of being paid by the hour, or because we have to send money for our relatives to the 5th degree, but because of two reasons: One, it pays off here. Your pay is commensurate to your effort, not like sa Pinas, mapatay ka na baka-baka amo man gihapon imo sweldo, nagataas balaklon, imo sweldo wala. Second, we have deeper conscientiousness. Ask any Pinay nurse in a nursing home here, and she’ll tell you that she was the one who cleaned up the patient with crap all over, that every body else of every color and previous shifts neglected because she could simply not stand it. “Martyr” you might say. Nay my friend, mapisan lang ta iya kag may consiensa. Of course, kahibalo ka man dapat mag assert sang imo rights kag mang away kung kinahanglan e.

     Innovativeness. Back home, in the hospital, I was taught to write and carry out your own orders, use modified or recycled materials, not to expect an assistant when you do a minor procedure, make vital clinical decisions without the benefit of a simple lab result or CT scan or MRI. Not over here, in the land of plenty and lawsuits. But the values and clinical astuteness certainly apply and benefit many lives. Who are experts in suped up, modified Honda Civics here? Pinoy, natural.

     Humility. Sometimes, people here misconstrue humility for weakness. We tend to be less vocal which is misunderstood as being thickheaded. Our lack of expressiveness seems a disadvantage in the land of the free and the home of the brave. However, we are aggressive in a different way and vocal in another way. Our productivity speaks for itself. The result of our work is louder than words. Alam mo naman mahirap mag Ingles kung galit ka e, di ba (except for some short swear words)? Siling nila kita nga mga Ilonggo, kung ga pangakig, ga hipos lang pero dugay-dugay bun-on ka na gali? Sikreto bunal bala a. Na, amo na.

     There are many more qualities that pull us up, and yet may that also pull us down. It will not help to bore or belabor about these, or illustrate them with a lengthy discourse on life away from the beloved homeland. Pero iba talaga and Pinoy, and these are what separate us.

     Just random thoughts...

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