“Sige… Pasig… Sige pa…”
The painted words tower above me as we pass the footbridge. I crack a smile. Every time I see this particular architecture, I think of which politician thought of painting that and why. I’m sure it was made to uplift the spirits of the people of Pasig, and honestly, it worked on this Mandaluyong inhabitant so it should work on them as well. The ironic thing is, my friend’s grandfather is the Mayor of Pasig. I’ve been meaning to ask her who painted or thought of that slogan, but I haven’t got the chance to, yet.
This architecture always makes me think about how Filipinos pass their hardships through jokes. When someone’s having a tough time, we try to lighten his/her load by making her laugh. What some people don’t realize is that this tends to be a way to avoid a problem instead of a coping mechanism. People resort to shrugging it off and laughing instead of facing the issue head-on. In the west, the latter is the more favorable mindset. They seem to face everything with a stern face and take consequences as they come. Of course, the problem with this is that they are very confrontational and they step up to every little nuance and sometimes that makes an even bigger mess of things.
With both of these cultures under my belt, I’d say I’m more of a Filipino than an American in this sense. I very much dislike fights and I avoid them by nature. This was definitely the case when I was in high school. Since college started, I’ve gotten more assertive and emphatic in my beliefs. I still think I’m non confrontational, but maybe that’s a lot less now.
On another (but similar) note, I recently discovered that Mandaluyong has it’s own slogan, too. It goes something like, “Sulong Mandalyong!” – Nice try Mandaluyong, but Pasig wins this round.
