“Lechon at Christmas dinner”:

Race and culture mix in a family get-together

Joyous Filipino Christmas celebrations are plentiful in the Northeast; but in a typical or extended family, Christmas dinner is more intimate.

Family in the US where mixed marriages are not uncommon is defined more broadly than in the Philippines. It has become family tradition that Christmas dinner for the writer’s family is at his daughter’s in-laws – who were born and raised in the Northeast, and represent what America is: a nation of immigrants.

At the dinner table are three Filipinos, and among the extended family are Jewish, Italians and Germans. After the pleasantries and compliments to the host for the excellent cooking, the writer’s son-in-law asked if he had been to the new-find Filipino restaurant in Flushing, Queens, New York: they serve great lechons! Then the rest chimed in bragging about their favorite restaurants serving “roast pig” in the New York Metro area.

Race and culture mix in family get-togethers – and one hears about the best and the worst of America. Mass cards are universal, recipients irrespective of faith are grateful to receive them.

The writer’s son-in-law is talking about his recent trip (with friends from college) to New Orleans to watch a college football game; and how racism is still alive in America. And then the chorus: remember we have a close family friend from Mississippi who grew up in a Ku Klux Klan community; and everyone takes it under advisement. America takes the good with the bad.

The son-in-law is astounded that there’s a clear divide between black and white at the bar where they went after the game: it’s like segregation is still the norm. Before flying back to New York they went around the city; their verdict: New Orleans is far from rehabilitated if it’d ever be rebuilt, notwithstanding Obama. There is a sense of resignation in the air: former residents have not returned and investors haven’t jumped in either. Aside from the decreased population, people are aware that the city sits below sea level and hence not conducive to rebuilding and redevelopment.

The moral of the story: even the most powerful man in the world can’t fix his own backyard – no country or system or institution can be everything to everybody – especially given their economic woes!

They have to bank on their Protestant work ethic once again? They would turn the economy around? And given their humanness, they would succumb to excesses yet again? Or why the recent recession is part of the cycle of boom and bust: the world has seen it 5 times over the last 4 decades, though 2007/2008 brought the fears of 1929 to the fore!

What lesson can we learn? Our task of pursuing development remains – we haven’t been there nor done that; nor could we afford the excesses of the West. The US is not the model for us: classic fiscal and monetary tools won’t suffice! Our model ought to be poor countries that succeeded to become developed countries like our neighbors: characterized by (a) strong and strategically-directed public-private collaboration reminiscent of Singapore, Inc. or Japan, Inc., (b) aggressive GDP goals to meet needs of 92 million Filipinos and (c) driven by big-bang or priority industries that are globally competitive!