Notes

Resourcefulness and creativity. Filipinos are known for ingenuity. We are creative in many ways, whether it’s in art, music, science, technology and business. Some of our smartest countrymen can come up with a brilliant idea despite of poverty or lack of financial resources. We are also good in recycling trash and turn them into ingenious products.Filipinos have this uncanny ability to make something out of nothing, especially the most random of nothings. This is generally a trait that is common among poor people, and ...Filipinos are a poor people. I think at some point or another, when human beings had lived in caves and wore loin clothes made of mammoth fur, we all shared this attribute. But as time passed, inventions were created , and human beings progressed into a smarter species, there was less and less of a need for any sort of ingenuity. Today, we have inventions for just about everything, but this in effect has displaced the creativity and innovativeness that we once had.

Flexibility, Adaptability, and Creativity. Filipinos have a great capacity to adjust and to adapt to circumstances and the surrounding environment, both physical and social. Unplanned and anticipated events are never overly disturbing or disorienting as the flexible Filipino adjust to whatever happens. We posses a tolerance for ambiguity that enable us to remain unfazed by uncertainty or lack of information. We are creative, resourceful, quick learners, and have the ability to improvise and make use of whatever is on hand in order to create and produce.
This quality of the Filipino is manifested in the ability to adapt to life in any part of the world, in the ability to make new things out of old scraps, in the capacity to keep old machines running and of course in the creative talent manifested in the cultural sphere. It is likewise seen in the ability to accept change.


But no, Filipinos have not completely lost it.

Give a Filipino a screw driver, plastic bags, and some tape - someway, somehow he will build you a bird tree, given that you allow him to scrap some other surrounding material. I don't know exactly how, but he will, especially if it's for the sake of survival.




Pinoy creativity

Aside from our humanity, we Filipinos can be proud of our creativity. While being creative is not an exclusive trait possessed only by Filipinos, what makes ours distinct is the artistry, expressiveness, spontaneity, and humor that altogether define Filipino creativity. Aside from the abundance of world-renowned Filipino talents in music and the performing arts, our country is rich with visual artists, fashion designers, animators and many other artists. Filipinos are making waves in the international scene, particularly in the entertainment, creative, and design industries.


MAKING do with a little tub, kids have fun. Photo By Bryan Macabales/contributor

Filipino creativity, however, is not limited to the professional artists. The country’s tourism campaign “It’s More Fun in the Philippines” is a remarkable testimony to the creative minds and spontaneous wit that Filipinos generally share. This impromptu show of support to Philippine tourism merely proves that we can unite and use our collective ingenuity to rally behind a common cause for the benefit of the country.




Bahala na” or “come what may” habit
This is another habit that destroys the image of Filipinos. Instead of doing something to make things happen, we tend to just leave the outcome to whatever that could happen—come what may—we say. For instance, instead of studying for exams, some students may spend more time in computer games and gimmicks, while leaving their chance of passing the midterms to luck. We could attribute this habit to faith, reasoning out that God will help us become successful. However, as the Christian saying goes, “faith without work is dead”. If we have some goals, then we need to work in order to achieve them.