Does pride help?

The Spanish are proud. This is the strongest message I have been getting from them over the last ten months. They love their hometown, they love their history, they love their culture, their language, their country. It is a kind of pride that is sometimes irrational, at times fascinating, and it is planted deeply within every one of them.

Last school year I shared a flat with three Spanish guys, and out of the blue they would walk up to me to say: "I think Spain is the best country in the world." Actually, none of them could be considered well-traveled, Portugal being the farthest one of them had reached, but in their minds their country exists above the rest.

Manolo, the guy from Cordoba, liked very much to bring up the topic of food, and whenever he did, he would always seal the conversation with: "I think Spanish food is the best there is." Truth is, his gastronomic adventures had been quite limited, and he was quite averse to trying out foreign food. Once I offered him some Japanese sweets, and the reaction I got was one of surprise. Backing off, he said something like: "What the fuck is this?"

Actually, those were little Japanese rice cakes with sweet beans inside.

In Spain, Russian salad is very common that one day I started to wonder if indeed it was of Russian origin, or Spanish. It is normally served as a tapa, together with other traditional Spanish food. So I asked my other flatmate Julio about it, and he said he was unsure. You have to understand that this salad is quite popular and the Spanish love it. Perhaps thinking along these lines, he was quick to add: "It is more likely that Russian salad is actually Spanish."

Regarding French fries, which are popular the world over, Manolo had the same theory: "You know, French fries could actually be Spanish."

The kind of pride that they have does not follow logic or reason. Rather, it stems from a deep feeling of love for their own, but without knowledge of what other cultures are like.

Over dinner, one professor told me that to her English was not a good language, as it didn't quite measure up to the richness of Spanish. I was tempted to ask if she spoke English, but I didn't like to embarrass her as I knew she didn't.

This pride is so great, sometimes they will try to impose their culture on you. When people here ask me if the Filipinos speak Spanish, they get disappointed over the lost of their influence on us. They say something like: "What a pity. Pass a law or something, so people there will study Spanish again."

I have to admit I found this pride quite annoying at first. As a Filipino, the concept of yabang is embedded in me, as much as pride is in them. Hearing them talk, I would think: "Ang yabang naman nito!!!" But later on, as I tried to understand them more as a people, it began to fascinate me why they think and behave that way.

So one day I asked Manolo why the Spanish are so proud. Is it because of the education? Are they taught this pride in school? The question actually surprised him, and thought it was a bit odd. He didn't have a reason to offer, because he had never thought about it. To him, it has always been that way; loving Spain is the only natural way to think, to behave.

I have seen this pride in other nationalities, too - Venezuelans, Bolivians, Brazilians and Russians. They are from developing nations, yet they claim that life where they come from is much better than Spain. I don't know if that is true, but fact is, they are proud of their own.

Interestingly, I didn't see this pride in the Japanese, whose country is rich and powerful. When they talk about Japan, they tend to understate its achievements, always conceding to America or something. Even the Chinese people I've met didn't seem to possess such pride, not knowing their economy has become a major threat to the US.

When I asked myself the same question I'd asked Manolo, I couldn't find an answer. Why are the Filipinos so unproud of themselves? Is it because of the education? Are we taught to think that way in school? When people ask me, "Is the Philippines beautiful?" I find it hard to say yes. It is my nature, or at least it's my first impulse, to think that my country is awful, corrupt and without a future. I think most Filipinos are like that.

Yet when I come to think of it, such lack of pride of the Filipinos is just as irrational as the Spanish hubris. It is based on emotion, humility, lack of knowledge and rather exaggerated notions of how life good is outside the Philippines.

What if we had this Spanish pride? Would it change things?