Why do we indulge in this ‘poor-me’ state?

I was once asked by former Secretary of Tourism Narzalina Lim to be a panelist at a conference on the cruise industry in ASEAN. I was tasked to prepare a short statement about the vast opportunities for cruising in and around our beautiful Philippine islands. The principal Singaporean speaker veered away from the subject and spoke instead about Singapore as a hub for cruise ships, leaving no time for the rest of us to react. With only a few minutes left, the chairman asked me what I thought about her presentation.

After I answered the question, he adjourned the meeting to my utter dismay.

Leaving the hall with a feeling of having failed my country, I asked the chairman, a seasoned organizer of shipping conferences, why he did not ask me about the Philippines. "Doris," he said, "I gave you the opportunity to speak. The rule of the game when you have something you want to say is to grab the opportunity to say it. Your fatal error was to answer the question!"

The great lesson I learned is that it is imperative to resist engaging in anything that distracts our focus from the goal. Sounds obvious, but difficult to do. We have, upon reflection, become a people afflicted by distractions. Our sense of national purpose – to build a strong republic – falls on deaf ears because all of us engage in non-productive banter, arguments and intrigue.

Take the seafaring industry. China today is focused on taking away our premier role as the number one seafarer serving on 20 percent of the world’s fleet. Two hundred thousand men and women have given their lives to this career and depend on it. They send home over US$2 billion in remittances excluding ancillary services that support the industry. The Philippine manning industry, made up of at least 12 major associations, has agreed to form a joint internal and external promotions program – external to market and promote our services; internal to improve our quality, cost effectiveness, integrity and reliability. A good enthusiastic start.

However, I observe that we tend to become distracted with the setup of the organization (who does what), rather than focus intently on our common interest to improve ourselves and to maintain Filipinos as the "Seafarer of Choice."

In a sense, this type of situation is replicated everywhere we look. The lack of direction we feel comes from the noise generated by incidental and unimportant banter that do not contribute to the goal. I am sure that our leaders are guided by a clear direction. It is therefore all the more important for them to resist the temptation to engage in low-level politics and intrigues. They must keep rallying us all to instead focus on where we are going – clear business plans and strategies that will allow the Philippines to compete with China and the rest of our neighboring competitors.

A great distraction we must absolutely trash is our tendency to feel like the victim of a situation. I have been racking my brain on why we often indulge and revel in this poor-me state. Reflecting on this, I have come to the conclusion that we often go the table without first working hard to establish our bottom line non-negotiables. When we do not know what we want, the outcome runs away from us. On the contrary, knowing the facts, and what we want out of the deal for ourselves will allow us to act with trust and confidence. In this state, it is also possible to be generous, to share, to give a little or even a lot, to decide with conviction, to conclude the deal without wavering and reneging on our commitments. So, we must all share in the responsibility to resist the temptation to create distractions, keep our eye on the ball and achieve great things together.

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Thanks for your comments dorisho@att global.net.