They say, this is a new joke among the Filipino community in America….

We have a friend who is a charming old American lady. She had been a missionary to the Philippines for more than 2 decades already and she sort of “retired” and went back to her home in Missouri a few years back.

Last week, she came back to the Philippines again for a visit and we had a fun time together with some young people and our pastor. She told us that while she was in California some time back, she watched an LA Lakers game for she loved watching sports on television. While she was appreciating an obviously white player’s good game, her pastor friend told her that he is half-Filipino. She wouldn’t believe it because the player was nowhere looking nearly half Filipino. But the pastor insisted.

Eventually, he revealed that it was sort of a new joke in their place, that whoever is successful in America is half-Filipino.

Well, it may be funny and an outright exaggeration, but it cannot be denied that it brings a tinge of pride to a Filipino like me. Many Filipinos lately have excelled in the international scene, whether in music, sports, medicine, business, politics, and others. And these were properly documented and well publicized.

Whenever I hear of these kinds of news, these give me goosebumps and watery eyes, thinking how Filipinos can shine like that despite obstacles, and sometimes discrimination. Whenever Filipino sportsmen and artists go abroad to compete, I say a prayer for their success. Their success is the pride of the nation.

I am proud to be a Filipino, born and raised in the Philippines.