So Many Questions... The Answers Few

Not having a good night sleep, I was startled when I heard an early morning prayer call from a nearby Moslem mosque here in Tagbilaran. I remember that long time ago, Moslems who do their prayer calls were bombarded by nasty comments in the radio because they were disturbing the majority of the Christian populace. And as I contemplate on its significance, the rhythmic singsong was suddenly interrupted by a chorus of Catholic women singing praises to the Virgin Mary in a dawn rosary. In my entire life, I haven’t heard someone blaming the dawn rosaries of disturbing a night’s sleep.

I was rather amused, in fact I was giggling in bed. I never considered the diversity of culture right here in Tagbilaran City and what the city has become nowadays. Before it were just church bells ringing in the early morning, calling the flock to mass. I no longer hear the bells though but instead a recorded chime or something is played every time. I was wondering if the priests invented this to brag about their new-found technology, which is unfashionable rather than hi-tech, by the way. And I wondered too if people noticed or just didn’t care. Blind obedience? I would rather consider the Moslem prayer call as authentic (culture-wise) despite the use of technology (they use microphone and sound system we called trumpa).

This also reminded me of a discussion from my friend who is assigned in Tagbilaran as of the moment. She noticed that every time she introduces a new concept in the office, her minions would readily accept it but later would do everything to make the concept fail and hound her like a pack of dogs waiting for the kill, her words.

I know Boholanos have the tendency to wait and see to the extent of being subservient. This passive attitude enables the local government executives to be corrupt, sometimes blatantly. When a crier exposes these wrongdoings, almost always, it is the crier who becomes the phony and likened to the boy who cried wolf.

And these troubled me. Was this the reason why the Dagohoy rebellion became successful or un-successful? Is the pack mentality a Boholano trait or an acquired characteristic?

Too many questions…

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Photo from http://vincentvanderveken.com/