Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Of perception and being good ambassadors



It's sad that some of us are bad ambassadors of our country.

I remember while waiting for a flight for Hong Kong, my companions and I overheard an American family bickering about how bad our country is. We got angry about what was said, so we confronted them and calmly told them that we understand every word they were saying and not to come back anymore if they think we're that bad, and who asked them to come over anyway?

The mom in the family apologized and it turned out that one of her sons married a Filipina and they flew to the Philippines and visited the province of the woman to meet the in-laws. Turns out that they were scammed by someone and the family toured them to not so great places. Besides the fact that it seemed their first time out of the States (something about them screamed first time traveler), much more a 3rd world country, it left a very poor impression on our country. That said, everywhere we go, as Filipinos, we should be mindful of what we do and always speak of great things about our country and its people. Everyone of us is an ambassador and we are the best marketing method for our country. No amount of great videos will convince people to appreciate the country if we ourselves are not passionate over its beauty.