Yesterday I was telling my doctor how my usual day goes working from home. He was surprised how much I do in a day and asked several times how I cope. I told him we've been so busy this year and we all just had to cope. And then he asked me again how I cope and told me too bad I have a very hard job. We laughed and then he told me what he has experienced working with Filipino medical workers.
He said it's been a joy to work with Filipinos. "All of them just do what is needed with a smile." He then asked whether this ability to cope is something that is taught to us in school. Or is it because of the water (of course he was kidding). I had a similar conversation with my manager last year. He noticed that when we promise to deliver something we always do. We are also always on time for deadlines.
I didn't really know how to answer because I noticed it's just in-born in us. We just do what we have to do and make the extra effort when needed. I said that it's probably all of us experience disasters growing up. Typhoons, flooding, earthquakes don't choose who to strike. I remember when I was in school we were all stranded in school because of flooding. We coped by all moving to classrooms in the upper level, rearranged the desks, ate whatever the nuns gave us and slept on the floor until we could go home.
It may also be the stringent training provided in school. We were taught to do well and work hard. We do that for our family. If there's one thing we always worry about it's being able to provide well for our families. So when we end up working abroad we give all our effort to do well. And for the medical workers here in Singapore, the Filipinos are really the best. The nurses who took care of me after heart surgery were Filipinos, the medtech who's been taking my 2D echograms is Filipino, CT scan? Xray? Blood tests? All Filipino.
My doctor said it several times how amazed he is that Filipinos always do well and cope very well especially in stressful situations. He even compared it to his country and said it's definitely different how we cope. I concluded by saying that's the Filipino resilience and spirit. We're just naturally that way because of the conditions we live in.
I know the term "Filipino resilience" is something we're starting to hate, but I think it's something we should hold on to. It is a special trait we have that shines abroad. The Filipino spirit just keeps powering on.
#CB//237 #StuckAtHomeDay/267 #WFH157 #StayHome #BeKind
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