Barbarian Invasions... (mini-essay)
“Intelligence is not an individual trait; it is national, collective and intermittent…”
I’ve been thinking about this theory for months now. I’ve encountered this quote from the movie Barbarian Invasions (Les Invasion Barbares), a French-Canadian film which tackles about the different things that invade our lives, it can be physical, meta-physical or simply a principle, state of mind or thought.
Yeah, this is true especially in a subjective point of view. Plato, Aristotle, Socrates were at least present for almost the same centuries (470-320 BC), and intelligence was there. For this period in the Greek History, literature and the whole civilization has reached the height of its artistic influence.
How about us the Filipinos, have we kept our intelligence alive for years, decades or centuries? Hmmm, when the Spanish colonialism finally succumbed to the Americans, we had our brains intact, that’s why we fought and set ourselves free. But when Uncle Sam ruled, we are dumb after losing it for decades up to the Marcos Regime. Thank God, our intelligence came back and brought us into our rightful places when EDSA revolution happened, but how about now. Yup, we still have intelligence but we are continuously abusing, polluting our borrowed and even our own principles. I hope we never lose it especially now when we most need it…
Ooh, forget it, those are just theories…
----
Talking about the Barbarian Invasions, currently, what are my personal barbarians?
1. Food, food and food. I might have hypertension again and surprise, it could be diabetes…
2. GT Tower, oops, I mean an earthquake, I am in the 26th floor of this building and I don’t want to get sandwiched…
3. Bus… just last night, 3 buses just exploded, and it can be the LRT… if only I can avoid these modes of transportations.
4. My family, neighbors, officemates, former classmates… sometimes they say undesirable things but they don’t mean it!!!
5. Philosophical thoughts… at high school, call me an idealist, classicist and pragmatist. But now I am a realist, expressionist, sensual socialist and glad to hear from the world of Marxist-Leninist (where goes my romanticism?).
6. Myself, sometimes I don’t know what I fu@#ing want… Things are not the way I wanted to be…
7. Tsunami, typhoons, asteroids, air bourne virus, war, capitalism, materialism, skepticism, all kinds of -ism, hehe...
Hehe, but I want to imitate the Great Wall of China within me, they have managed to secure the purity of their race and culture for centuries; I want to keep the Barbarians outside my perimeter, driving undesirable things away or if not, I have to learn how to co-exist with them but keeping my own interest in mind. This is the only way to protect my little permeable life and soul intact together.
posted by basmayor @ 5:32 PM
2 Comments:
yup, a friend of mine told me that language can inadvertently affect one's IQ. So Filipinos as a race, is limited by the language (he said the Filipino is an inferior language - muntik ko na syang awain hehe :) ). I don't know if I agree, but sometimes I can't help but simply wonder hmmmmm... .
Yeah, a friend said that you can't appreciate the root of philosohy if you don't know how to speak German, the real vision of love if you don't know Spanish, the real definition of quality if you don't know japanese, and the deep ends of art if you don't know Frech or Italian. I hate to agree but it is somehow true...
Post a Comment
<< Home