Maria Clara is very dead long, long ago! Long live, Lady Gaga! Many of young people nowadays have imbibed so much Western culture and customs which seems to bring the worst rather than the best of the Filipino whose "bayanihan" spirit has been recognized and emulated world wide. It's said that we lived in a convent for three hundred years and fifty years in Hollywood. But, we are influenced more by the Americans' way of life thus, a large percentage of Filipinos nurture the American dream which many try to achieve by hook or by crook.
Unfortunately, the consuming infatuation of many Filipinos with the American way of life has elicited the worst and undesirable traits among us rendering such copycats symbolic of the term "more popish than the Pope". Way back in the '70s, there was a news report about a survey claiming that 10% of female teenagers had lost their virginity In the 21st century, it's safe to assume that said survey rating has either doubled or trebled as our ballooning population is the probable result.
Then, the marrying age was 20's or older, now 14 or 15 years is fast becoming the fad among females with males one or two years older. Thus, there are now many girls barely out of their teens having two or more kids. Now, it's common to see even elementary school kids going out on dates, most likely without their parents' knowledge. Of course, this is the accepted effects of the modern age where what was taboo in the past is now accepted nowadays.
Some decades ago, most towns observed the religious practice of praying the Angelus where the people stopped whatever they're doing upon hearing the church bells toll at six o'clock in the afternoon. In these days, I have yet to know of a place in our country where this beautiful custom is still being observed.
Another custom worth emulating which is slowly disappearing is the kissing of the hands of the elders when leaving and returning the homes by the younger people. Though many people have replaced it with exchanges of kisses on each other's cheeks commonly termed as "beso-beso". Even the use of "po" and "opo" is likewise fading among many people, young and old alike though this is prevalent among Tagalogs only.
In these days, only 10% of passengers in public transport, particularly jeepneys do bother to give thanks to co-passengers who pass the fares to the driver. Most passengers fail to utter the words "thank you" or the Tagalog word "salamat", a sad lack of good manners and right conduct, reflective of the parents' same character deficiency as well as the failure of school and religious leaders to inculcate properly the virtue of gratitude and respect to the elders.
The above observations may be somewhat trivial to many but such changing mores and customs lost forever can be regarded as a siege on the nation's moral fiber.
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