It
is human nature . . . and confirmed by social scientists as being
influenced by one’s or a people’s ‘comfort zone’. People
don’t take on challenges that are beyond their comfort zones. Yet
Americans have talked about ‘exceptionalism' and, not surprisingly,
have accused President Obama of failing to measure up to the ideal –
i.e., in demonstrating leadership at home and abroad – thus his
rating recently dropped to below 50%.
It
appears Pope Francis would satisfy American exceptionalism. “Shake
up dioceses, Pope urges” while he was in Rio de Janeiro recently.
“I want a mess . . . There would be great disorder, but I want
trouble in the dioceses! I want to see the church get closer to the
people. I want to get rid of clericalism, the mundane, this closing
off ourselves within ourselves, in our parishes, schools or
structures. Because these need to get out!”
We
Pinoys have never looked at ourselves as paragons of exceptionalism
and would feel more at home with incrementalism? Are we wondering how
a pope could say, “I want a mess” – in the church where
transparency was taken for granted? If there was one thing we weren't
supposed to tolerate, it was a mess, and so all the way up to the
Vatican the norm was to sweep things under the carpet? And a veteran
American Jesuit who is almost 80 years old, and who surprised
everyone by leaving the priesthood, did not spare the Jesuits of the
same criticism. And we’ve assumed that the Society of Jesus equals
liberal? [Veteran Jesuit explains choice to return to lay life, NCR,
15th Jul 2013]
Given our respect for hierarchy, we’ve never considered that ours
is an innovation culture or an innovation economy, but one of
oligopoly reflected in our largest conglomerates? And so we don’t
see ourselves competing in the global market? But now – surprise,
surprise – Francis speaks precisely about ‘structures,’
recognizing how structures have resulted in the parochialism of the
church – “a mundane church that lives within itself, of itself,
and for itself.” [In fairness, it applies to both the private and
public sectors, including economic managers – and why MNCs
benchmark globally?]
But
weren’t we proud that as true Christians we were evangelists? [My
wife and I were picked to lead a Christian community while we were
still based in the Philippines, and were put through a crash program
in evangelization. And as we went through the chores of community
leadership, we experienced how mundane it could be – and what it
was to live within ourselves, of ourselves and for ourselves. And I
refer to the leadership group. And it was not uncommon to hear from
those in the leadership circle about “dying to oneself” – and I
had always wondered if that meant people could swallow their egos?]
Where
does our comfort zone lie? For example, despite dominant
conglomerates (sending the signal to the rest of the world that ours
is a “closed economy”?) and their influence over our way of life,
we rank in the lowest tier investment-wise in the region. And when we
extend that to its full import – beyond infrastructure – we rank
in the lowest tier of technology, innovation, education and training,
product development and market development. Surprise, surprise, in
the 21st century, we've remained an underdeveloped economy – that
comes with widespread poverty! (And that is the kind of structure
referred to by Francis?) And we’ve been barking at the wrong tree,
because our definition of reform has been reduced to populism, like
pork or patronage? True reform to be sustainable must be transparent
and market-driven, not charity- or livelihood-driven? [And why I talk
about my Eastern European friends.]
We
may not be able to move from incrementalism to exceptionalism but we
could work on expanding our comfort zone – to pave the way for
change? Because if we can’t take change as an imperative, we've
very little prospects to move forward as an economy? For example, we
are an underdeveloped economy with a GDP per person at a mere tenth
of developed economies! And our lopsided economy is akin if not worse
than Occupy Wall Street, represented by the 50 wealthiest Filipinos!
Clearly change could mean upheaval as Pope Francis has stressed, but
hasn’t man (starting with Adam and Eve?) proved that he could
handle upheavals despite the reality of his comfort zone?
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