Immersion

The Ateneo de Manila University's Development Studies (DS) juniors are off doing their immersion. And this event is an experiment in at least two ways.  First, we've moved their Theology 141 to third year from fourth year. Second, we've converted Theology 141 for these juniors into a (real) Praxis immersion.

I've always believed that Theology 141 is better placed in 3rd year. First, because fourth year is a little late for the immersion experience to seep in. Seniors are already preoccupied with theses, seniors' syndrome, and career decisions. If we have Theology 141 in junior year, they'll have a year to chew on the experience (and maybe one or two will be inspired enough to do the thesis for the community).

Second, a lot of major subjects are in third year and fourth year is usually reserved for theses. This means that the opportunities to maximize immersion by inserting a service-learning component are in third year, not fourth year. In this case, we've tied up Theology 141 with Project Management. We'll be asking the DS majors to come up with a project proposal as part of their project management class for the NGO that oversees the communities they've visited.

I'd like to thank the Theology Department for allowing us to embark on this experiment. As with all experiments, we will learn from it and make decisions about it at the end of the semester.

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For this particular immersion, we've partnered with Got Heart Foundation, an NGO founded and run by a DS graduate, Mel Yeung (DS '07). They're actively promoting natural farming methods in Tarlac. The juniors have been assigned to two of Got Heart's communities: a farming community and an Aeta community.

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It's been quite an experience seeing tweets about the immersion the night before and during the immersion. This wouldn't have been possible years ago. Of course this is only true for those with the farmers' community. Those in the Aeta community are probably not connected. (Or they're not my friends on Twitter)

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I saw a tweet from someone who said that they have electricity, water, and wifi in the farmers' community. I'm not completely surprised because that site is the headquarters of sorts for Got Heart. While it would have been ideal for them to live with families, the NGO requested that they live in the staff house.

I think what makes this immersion a little different is the presence of the NGO that is actively trying to help the community. I'm told by Benjie Tolosa that in the early days of immersion when it wasn't required, students were exposed to the empowered poor. But given the mass mobilization of students for immersion, it became harder and harder to find empowered poor.

I think there's some value in exposing students to attempts to support marginalized communities. That way, those communities are not seen as being helpless and dependent and the question isn't just how can we help them (and asking that question in a vacuum, as it were) but how can we support existing efforts to help them/ efforts to help them help themselves.

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Thanks to Got Heart, Mel Yeung and Christian Yap for taking in the DS juniors! I hope we are able to come up with good proposals for your group.

Framing Generosity

I've always been slightly uncomfortable with parts of St. Ignatius' Prayer for Generosity. I'm particularly uncomfortable with the parts that sound "sacrificial." To give and not to count the cost is unsustainable. To fight and not to heed the wounds is suicidal. To toil and not to seek for rest leads to burn-out. To labor and ask not for reward is unsustainable.

It helps that I realized one day that the punchline of the song isn't those sacrificial parts but the very last line: "Save that of knowing that I do your most Holy Will." Elsewhere, I wrote that if we frame it like this, then all those sacrificial parts only make sense if it is according to His Most Holy Will. Sometimes, as in most development interventions, we must count the costs. More often than not, when we toil, we must seek for rest.

Last night, I realized that the sacrificial parts only make sense if we are clear what we are sacrificing for. And so it might make more sense if the prayer is rendered as follows:

Dearest Lord,
Teach me to be generous,
Teach me to serve you as I should.
To give to you and not to count the costs
To fight for you and not to heed the wounds
To toil for you and not to seek for rest
To labor for you and ask not for reward
Save that of knowing that I do your most Holy Will.

Knowing that I do your most holy will is indeed a very important grace.

Awards and Indifference

In a previous post, I wrote that awards and greatness are things that are socially bestowed. They are reflections of the award-giving body more than they are reflections of the awardee.

Should awards be pursued? Or is this the equivalent of greed or vanity?

The short and difficult suggestion to answering this question is to discern whether or not the call is for an award to be pursued. This is a difficult answer because discernment is not an easy process.

The long but easy suggestion to answering this question is to think of awards or greatness in terms of ends that one wants to pursue. If awards and greatness facilitate the accomplishment of noble ends, then by all means, be open to (and even actively pursue) those awards. Just as awards are instruments of institutions to reproduce themselves, awards must also be seen as instruments to attain various noble ends.

There are two things to keep in mind that can help keep a person honest. First, win or lose, do not take the award personally. Again, an award reflects the award giving body more than the awardee.

Second, awards and greatness can be a burden as much as they are a blessing. Awardees have to deal with raised expectations and in some instances, lose their privacy. There are situations where I feel the losers are much more blessed than the awardees.

The Conferment of Laurel Wreaths in Philippine Society

I’ve known what it feels like to be given recognition (and to almost be withheld recognition) and I’ve known the bitter taste and heartbreak of recognition being given to someone else other than myself (and by implication, being told that I am not or am less deserving of recognition). I have been asked and continue to be asked to judge who deserves to be given recognition and by implication, to designate others as being less worthy of recognition.

What I have learned from these experiences (and my wife’s experiences) of being given and giving recognition and being withheld and withholding recognition is that awards and recognitions are never to be taken personally. They reflect more about the judges than they do about the person recognized or the person to whom recognition is withheld. Awards are a statement of identity and values on the part of judges (or, rhetorically, the values of the institution they represent). They are a manner by which judges or “institutions” define themselves.

Some seekers of recognition know this very well and so they project what they think the judges want to see (which in the Philippine context almost always involves a tricky combination of appearing not to hunger for the recognition but confidently appearing to deserve the recognition).

I think greatness needs to be understood in the same way as awards and recognition. Greatness is an identity that is socially bestowed (allow me to acknowledge Peter Berger, An Invitation to Sociology, 1963 for the whole idea of socially bestowed identities). This much is clear when commentators started calling the late Pope John Paul II, John Paul the Great. I personally think John Paul I was great in his own right but then again, this only proves the point that greatness is socially bestowed. Society has not deemed it proper to call Albino Luciani great.

Greatness is not only a function of individual characteristics. One can be extremely mediocre or even magnificently incompetent by certain standards and still be considered great. One can be extremely competent by certain standards and not be considered great. That Manny Pacquiao is considered great is partly a function of his individual talent but it is also because someone with great talent in boxing can be considered great. Somebody who is equally or even more talented in something society considers more obscure like logrolling may never be considered great.

Each society (defined in terms of cultural politics) will have its own standards of greatness at particular points in time. These standards are not written down, even in popular forms (partly because to appear to seek to be great is a sure way of not being recognized in Philippine society) but those who are sufficiently socialized in the “right” circles know what these standards are. Most people have given up defining their lives in terms of greatness, content, perhaps, with merely seeking 15 minutes of fame because they know that they will never meet the standard for greatness.

Since greatness is socially bestowed, society frowns upon those who act as if they are great and insist upon their greatness without being affirmed as such by society. Filipinos use the word “feeling” to describe this conceit.

The task of a reflexive sociology, and the job of a reflexive society is to understand these standards of greatness, to clarify for society what its own standards for greatness are and to demonstrate how these standards result in particular ways of ordering societies and creating hierarchies, visibilities and invisibilities and all of those other things post-structuralists are concerned about. This will help individuals and collectivities locate themselves in terms of society’s standards and respond creatively to these standards which we live by.

(An old essay. Posting it again for a student)

Humility and Obedience

We’ve all heard the terms “false humility” or “false modesty” but I don’t know if anyone has been able to determine what constitutes true and what constitutes false humility.

I’ve heard Jesuits speak of humility in the context of obedience. Fr. Nebres tells the story of a young novice who wrote a wonderful philosophical essay and showed it excitedly to his novice master. The novice master acknowledges the novice’s work then tells him, “Go clean the comfort rooms”. The novice is shocked by the command and asks why he is being punished when he just had a magnificent accomplishment. The novice master says, “I am not punishing you, it is just that the comfort rooms need cleaning”.

Fr. Ben also talks about the late Fr. Cruz, former President of the University. When Fr. Ben became provincial and Fr. Cruz retired from the presidency of the Ateneo, Fr. Ben asked Fr. Cruz to take over as principal of the high school (which was a big demotion). Fr. Cruz accepted and took over the job with much gusto.

The same can be said of Jesus. Jesus is God, who humbled himself to share in our humanity. He was human enough not to want to be tortured and die but whose love and trust in his Father led him to say, “not my will but yours be done”.

While these examples emphasize traditional concepts of humility (magpakumbaba) in the light of obedience, it is not humility itself that should be highlighted but obedience. And obedience may mean the opposite of what we usually mean by humility. Sometimes, we are not asked to treat ourselves with less importance. Sometimes, we are called to step up to the plate, to play the lead role, like Peter who was named as leader of the apostles, Moses who was asked to lead Israel out of Egypt and David who was made king of Israel.

What is important then is not that we depreciate our worth in order to emulate Christ. What is important is that out of love of God and with complete trust in Him, we obey his commands.

Do thou direct and govern all and sway,

Do what thou wilt command and I obey.

(An old essay. Not sure when I wrote this)

As Clever as Snakes

(Delivered at the Ateneo High School Reading of Honors, 13 December 2000)

Each institution has its own sacred space and for the Ateneo de Manila University, the High School Covered Courts is our sacred space. All of you would want to see yourselves walking up here and shaking Fr. Nebres's hand two or three years down the line. Eleven years ago it was my turn to shake the hand of Fr. Bernas for my High School Graduation and seven years ago I was shaking his hand again for my college graduation. I would therefore like to thank the members of the High School Administration for inviting me to share this sacred space once more with all of you.

In sending out his twelve apostles upon their respective missions, Jesus instructed them to "be as clever as snakes and as innocent as doves". It is easy to understand why the apostles must be as innocent as doves. Jesus wants his apostles to remain pure of heart, in the words of St. Paul, "to remain like children as far as evil is concerned". But it is difficult to understand why we must be as clever as snakes.

Snakes are often associated with evil and malice. It was a snake that tempted Eve to commit the first sin in the Garden of Eden and according to the Book of Revelation, it is a snake that will wreak havoc in the end times. Whenever someone does something devious what do we say, we say in Tagalog, "Ahas ka".

I would like to share with you today a homily of a priest who explained this passage beautifully. The priest said that in our everyday lives, we spend so much time thinking about our everyday pursuits. I suppose, you see your parents invest so much thought in their businesses, figuring out new ways to sell their products. Some parents may spend as much time figuring out a case over dinner, be it a medical case or a legal case.

I hope you spend a lot of time trying to figure out your lessons, at least as much time as you might be spending on figuring out how to get a higher score in Counterstrike. I remember the days when I'd spend so much time trying to figure out how to get past stage two of Red Alert and how to run surpluses in SimCity.

Indeed we spend a lot of intellectual energy trying to figure out our everyday concerns. The priest asked in his homily, why do we not spend as much time thinking about other pursuits? Why do we not spend as much time, for example, trying to figure out how we can best communicate the Gospel to the people we encounter? Don't we wish that our parents would spend some more time trying to figure us out and what makes us happy rather than worrying about their jobs? Don't they wish that we spent some more time talking to them and trying to understand where they are coming from?

It is a general principle that people feel appreciated when they know that you have given them some thought. Don't we appreciate small gestures of thoughtfulness given to us by our friends? Don't we appreciate the teachers who obviously spend time preparing for a lesson, preparing not only the content of the lesson but also tailor fitting the lesson in such a way that we can understand and relate to what is being said?

And why is it that we do not spend as much time trying to "solve the problems of the world". Sometimes I think that social involvement tends to be run on emotionalism and tradition. But in addressing the questions of poverty or even in fixing political systems we do not just need certified do-gooders or hopeless romantics. We need professionals: we need social scientists to help analyze the roots of the problem, we need managers to manage social development institutions and social entrepreneurial initiatives, and we need lawyers to set-up the proper regulatory framework especially in this age of globalization.

I believe that all Ateneans are intelligent, not just those who are formally recognized in awarding ceremonies such as this. You have passed one of the most difficult entrance exams in the country. I remember taking the High School Entrance exam right here in these covered courts and finding it deadly difficult. It was so difficult that I was teary-eyed as I talked to Brother Dunne in his office right after the test.

Furthermore, I believe that Ateneans have multiple intelligences. Modern psychology identifies seven different forms of intelligences, logico-matemathical being only one of seven. I remember a high school batchmate of mine who did not have spectacular grades but wrote spectacular, award winning plays. Other classmates played and composed beautiful music and still others had a highly developed sense of EQ, a measure of emotional intelligence.

When Jesus asks us to be as clever as snakes, he is asking us to use our intelligences not just for our everyday pursuits but also in the service of the Kingdom. We are being asked to spend as much thought on figuring out how to make the people around us feel loved and how to make our society a better place to live in.

And so, go forth, disciples of Christ, be as clever as snakes and as innocent as doves.

Social Enterprises and Innovation

A friend of mine and I have a running debate about whether or not social enterprises are necessarily innovative. My friend is a business entrepreneur who moved on over to the social enterprise sector recently as an investor and incubator. I'm an academic in the field of development studies and am following developments in the field of social entrepreneurship.

My friend thinks social enterprises are necessarily innovative. He thinks that the old solutions in development have not worked and it's time to find new solutions.

On the other hand, I argue that some solutions may actually work but need to be scaled up or replicated. If someone has invented a viable model somewhere and I replicate that model somewhere else, then I think I can still consider myself a social entrepreneur even if the idea was not original. I'd argue that entrepreneurship is not necessarily about coming up with a new product or service but putting in the effort or taking the risk associated with offering a product or service.

The assumption, of course, is that the person who replicates has a unique selling proposition in order to be viable. In the example above, maybe the product or service is new relative to a locality that has not encountered the product or service before. Things become problematic when the product or service is offered to the same market and the market is saturated. Thing Zagu or shawarma.

Where my friend and I agree is that social enterprises necessarily address social problems (and both of us agree that this is done in a financially sustainable way) and maybe that's why I don't insist on the need for innovation. If I take a model and replicate it elsewhere, as long as I'm addressing a social problem, then I can call myself a social entrepreneur.