Team work the Filipino way

Posted by Zigfred Diaz

October 29, 2008

by Zigfred Diaz

The closes English equivalent of “Team work” in Filipino is the word Bayanihan. However this Filipino word equivalent of team work, speaks of more than that. Bayanihan is derived from the word bayan which means “nation, town or community.” Hence, the word bayanihan actually means a “spirit of communal unity or effort to achieve a particular goal.”

It is said that the origin of the word found its meaning in the olden times. The tradition in Philippine towns is that members of the community help out families that move to a new place of residence. During these times, almost the whole community help out the new immigrants by literally carrying the house using bamboo poles and bringing the house to it’s new location.

A lot of National Filipino Artists produce paintings that depicts the carrying of a house from one location to another. This portrays the spirit of Baynihan and speaks of the Filipino unity. Artists love to use this scenario in their paintings because it conveys a message that a particular goal can be achieved if only Filipinos work together in unity.

Today, since houses are made of concrete, we cannot anymore see an actual bayanihan in action. Our government says that we might not move houses anymore however the spirit of Bayanihan is still prevalant among us as a nation.

No matter what our leaders say, I believe that we have abandoned and forgotten what the spirit of Bayanihan truly means. I am not saying this because I do not see the carrying around of houses in communities anymore. This is impossible because houses now are made of concrete. I am saying this because the hearts of most Filipinos today are made of stone. We do not anymore burn with love for our country nor do our hearts burn with the same passion and love for our country that was once felt by our ancestors and national heroes. Today, we see Filipinos participating in corruption in every situation. There are those who may not participate in corruption however they are very indifferent towards the situation. Since we fail to work as a team to help eliminate corruption in our society, we are just demonstrating that we have abandoned and forgotten what bayanihan truly is.

About the Author:

Want to know more what bayanihan means ? Visit the blog of Zigfred Diaz where he talk about several interesting topics including money management and some great thoughts on bayanihan

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