Rhona Canoy
SO... Not done disclaiming: Everything you will read in this article has no research basis of any sort whatsoever. They are all conclusions and opinions that have been slowly braising and stewing in my head for years, based on observations and personal experiences. Take it or leave it.
We previously looked at the Pinoy’s inherent desire to be recognized by broadcasting our identity in various creative ways. Pahabol lang before we move on to other observations--sometimes I wonder if the purpose of the small commercial ventures is partly so we can present ourselves to the world...
That being said, let’s move on to our obsession with titles and honorifics. Frankly, I find it amusing how titles become permanently attached to (or should I say absorbed into) names and identities. Whether it is a career designation (Atty., Dr., Engr., Arch., etc.) which precedes the name, or the assortment of capitalized letters (MA, MBA, PhD, CPA, etc.) which trail after, their presence seems to beg recognition of our profession, and become the definition of our very existence. I’ve always felt bad that hard-working full-time mothers don’t have a lofty designation of their own when they are the most deserving.
Don’t get me wrong. I have admiration for people who have attained these titles through hard work and due diligence. But the greater amount of my respect goes out to the parents who sacrifice much for their children to acquire these degrees and licenses. The part that puzzles me is how the title becomes who we are. “I am Engr. Juan Cruz” as opposed to “I am Juan Cruz, engineer.”
Sometimes I wonder too how discriminatory this habit has become. How badly I feel for those who have no professional designations. There is a hint of superiority that comes with it especially since the person who owns the title waves it around like a banner. I’ve always kind of felt like the titles come with a demand for respect. “I’m :-Dr Juan Cruz and you’re not. Call me Doc with a capital D or risk violent death!”
It feels like any title will do. For us women, it has become commonplace to be addressed as Madame (a designation given to the mother superior of a whorehouse). Where this habit started is unclear, although I believe it was the preferred honorific of Imelda Marcos. Considering how hated the Marcos name is lately, I would think being called Madame would be insulting twice over. To make matters worse, it usually gets shortened to ’dam so you can imagine how uncomfortable it can be to have some random salesperson follow you around the department store yelling something that sounds like “damn, damn!”
We Pinoys have ways to go in terms of self-esteem and respect. Because farmers have no titles and have dirty hands, they are usually treated as inferior, and sadly they accept this as their status quo. And yet their value to our existence is incalculable since they provide us with food, without which the end of our existence would be imminent--doctors, engineers, lawyers included in this mass extinction.
I still look forward to the day when respect is handed out equally because what each of us does is important in its own way. Until we realize that honesty and integrity are the highest reasons for respect, then we still have some work to do.
My dad is probably as guilty as the rest. I mean, his list of accomplishments is certainly long, and whoever delivers his eulogy in due time will certainly run out of spit just reading his curriculum.vitae. And yet Atty. Reuben Canoy has never handled a case nor appeared in court as a lawyer in his lifetime. My poor mother who has spent her entire life as a successful businesswoman in order to support her husband’s whims and fancies is known not as Solona Torralba but as as Mrs. Reuben Canoy. Where’s the respect in that?
So from now on, I would like to be addressed as Intelligent Loquacious Wildly Eccentric Sometimes Inebriated Honest But Sarcastic Rhona Torralba Canoy.
That will do nicely, thank you.
