Ringing in 2014 Lightly and Positively

By: Bob boyer

 

On Christmas morning I received a present, a book that has quite a bit to do with the Philippines: Bully Pulpit. Doris Kearns Goodwin, the author, writes about two presidents, Teddy Roosevelt and William Howard Taft. As I read through about half of the book, I had mixed reactions about how Kearns Goodwin depicted the U.S. take-over of the Philippines. My first idea for this column was to take issue with her, but while I was taking my New Year’s Day shower, (I do get some of my best ideas in the shower), I changed my mind. My wife regularly chides me for being negative, so a good resolution for the New Year would be to be more positive. Several positive ideas followed this thought in quick succession, and my mood lightened. I decided to start off 2014 lightly and positively. “Emmy is a senior this year.” Emmy (not her real name) is a Filipina in the Metro Manila area. My good friend Beng in Manila helps to support Emmy’s family and has been paying for her schooling since about fourth grade. Otherwise her schooling would probably have ended there. Some years back, I asked if I could help. Since then I have sent some money twice a year for Emmy’s books and school uniform. In a Christmas email, Beng told me that Emmy has grown up into a young lady and is a senior in high school this year. Yay! Press coverage of Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda in the Philippines). The New York Times has done a good job reporting on the typhoon. In particular, the Times gets credit for continuing its coverage rather than dropping it after the high drama part. On Christmas they featured a family of five children who were orphaned by Haiyan/Yolanda. The article highlighted two very positive responses by Filipinos. It spoke of how “the very large yet remarkably close-knit” families, characteristic of the Philippines, stepped forward to care for children who had lost their parents. Also the Philippine governmental agencies received kudos from “international aid groups” for protecting these children. Apparently children orphaned by such calamities are often victimized by “trafficking,” but the government has protected their orphans. Another positive story related to the typhoon, this one more personal, touched me. A former student of mine, knowing of my contacts with the Philippines, asked me to recommend a reputable international relief agency. Her ten-year-old daughter, she told me, has a piggy-bank for charitable donations. She had seen the news about Haiyan/Yolanda and its effects on Filipino families and wanted to make a contribution. I emailed my student and her daughter, sending her a list of three organizations, and my compliments on her fine job of parenting. Bully Pulpit, again. While I still have reservations about Doris Kearns Goodwin’s Bully Pulpit, it does contain a number of positives, particularly about William Howard Taft, the first Governor of the Philippines as a U.S. colony (1901-1904). Unlike his friend Teddy Roosevelt who pressured President McKinley into colonizing the Philippines, Taft opposed the take-over from the outset. He accepted McKinley’s appointment to lead the Philippine Commission and then to become the first governor only because “we were there” and should do a proper job of helping the people toward an independent and democratic government. As Kearns Goodwin points out, Taft and his wife and family were very egalitarian. Taft crafted the expression, “our little brown brothers,” without being patronizing. The Tafts’ positive attitude toward Filipinos made them popular with the local population but created much tension with the U.S. military. The U.S. Army was waging a notably brutal and racisttinged campaign in the Philippines. Despite this, Taft managed to get the U.S. to buy the 400,000 acres of land held by the “friars” (Catholic Church) and distribute the land to the people. To conclude on the lighter side, my friend Beng sent me a note on Christmas Eve morning. In it she said, “tonight we have midnight sinning, a Filipino tradition.” My first thought was that she was referring to a religious practice of some sort, so I asked her to explain. Her next email started with “Ha, ha, ha, ha. What I meant to say was midnight dining.” Bob Boyer welcomes your comments at Robert.boyer@snc.edu or on his blog.