The Persuasive Research Paper - Essay Example

It is for this reason that they are as prosperous today as they ever were. The opposite happens in countries like the Philippines. It is apparent that most Filipinos do not effectively recognize the full worth of their indigenous traditions, institutions and capabilities. They revere other countries but neglect their own. It is ironic how the Philippines is classified as a Third World nation noted for corruption, poor governance, poverty, and a low total industrial capacity considering it has nearly everything any nation needs for great development: a strategic location, abundant natural resources and a rich supply of human capital.

The only thing separating it from becoming a world power is the shortfall of self-confidence in its people. Because nationalism triggers a country’s movement toward a more prosperous future, the Filipino people’s lack thereof continues to be the root of the slow development of the Philippines. The Filipinos are the product of their colonial history. Almost four hundred years of colonization significantly disturbed the people’s mental framework, giving birth to a deep-seated colonial mentality that hindered them from showing enough concern for the national interest, which consequently slowed down the country’s rate of development.

In its place, it encouraged Filipinos to believe that other nations were better than them. This, in time, ingrained itself into what is now seemingly a natural trait. At the outset, the Philippines did not come together before the Spanish settlement. It was not even a country before the Spaniards arrived and colonized the islands. In fact, the Philippines was a mere archipelago of small autonomous divisions known as barangays. As said by Guariña in his historical essay, it was the Spanish settlement that unified the Philippines into a country.

At the same time however, it formed Filipino societies that took little pride in their own nation and instead only deified their colonizers. As a