* – inspired by “Our Poor Individualism,” by Jorge Luis Borges
For our neighbors in Asia, introspection is as much a political, social, and economic endeavor as it is a personal one. In Japan and Korea, leaders consider it a most honorable deed to step down from their posts when they become mired in scandal. In Malaysia, even the most corrupt politicians get the scurples long enough to be caught.
Singapore – almost always the case study for good governance and economic progress (the very antithesis of Gunnar Myrdal’s “Asian Drama”) – discipline is intertwined with introspection; enough that doing things “our way” may create diplomatic tension, but ensures domestic survival.
In the Philippines, it’s different. We engage in retrospection more than introspection. We pray more than we meditate. We cast blame and assert that the answers are out there, more than we do look inward and find the answers from within. We look externally; hence our poor introspection.
