Whats Your Mix?

If each of us would be tested through our DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid), it might show that none of us is a full-blooded Filipino. You might be surprised and overwhelmed to know that you have some two percent Chinese origin or ten percent Italian inheritance within your veins. But does it make a big difference? Does it make you less Pinoy? Cultural Mixes Even before the Spaniards came to our shores, the Philippines was considered a center of trade and culture in Asia. From Malays, Hindus, Chinese, Spaniards, Polynesians, Africans, Americans, and other races, our land has become as diversified as any nation can be. No wonder we were all mixed up. The Spaniards has influenced some of our sophisticated and Christian way of living, the Chinese with their food and traditions, the Americans with having so much freedom and the American dream, and now the Koreans with the K-Pop culture. We Filipinos have easily adapted to whatever is in at the moment. The sad part is, the younger Pinoy seem to forget his own cultures and traditions. Half-Popularity Unlike Harry Potter who is mocked for being a half-blood, most Pinoy vie to be recognized as halfFilipino half-something else. Admit it, being known as half-Mexican or half-Korean can make you an instant campus crush. Girls want to have some Korean or American or Spanish blood in them so they would be fairer and taller. We tend to see those half as someone superior to us. We try to become one of them. And in the end, we experience an identity crisis within ourselves. The colonial mentality that had invaded the Filipinos seems hard to break already. Our country is now a vestibule of different culture, tradition, fashion, music, cuisine; slowly taking and fading the Pinoy identity. Halo-Halo Like the famous Filipino dessert -Halo-halo, what we are today is the result of the different mixes and changes that time has brought. We are the product of the hundreds and thousands of years of mixing, making us global people. We may not be a normal Pinoy (define normal please); you may dress-up like a k-pop superstar, love big burgers, fries and pizzas, talk fluent Mandarin, believe in horoscopes, and still fight life like a real Katipunero. This diversity of Filipinos that one can see often misjudges us as being unpatriotic. There is nothing wrong with looking and acting like other people, but maybe it is high time to have an authentic Filipino Identity. Maybe we can be mixes and a true-blue Pinoy. We may not be genetically a full-blooded Filipino, what matter is that deep down in our hearts we will always be a proud one.