Symptom of a nation's low self-esteem

For years, I've been wondering why we don't have official provincial and town flowers, birds, trees, emblem, and motto, like in other states of other countries (US, Australia, etc.) I realized one reason is one that's most obvious: we are the first to look down on our own, that's why there is no pride in what we have been prodigiously blessed with.

Time to recover our self-esteem. We can do this, because it's very easy. We have more than enough species to choose from, if I'm not mistaken.

We have 80 provinces, 122 cities, and 1,512 municipalities. We have around 600 species of birds and innumerable plants.

In lieu of flora and fauna, perhaps arts and crafts will do, anything around which any given local government can rally its constituents for a sense of belonging, identity, and (healthy) pride. As I continue work on my old OTOP post (http://restyo.blogspot.com/2009/06/otop.html), I can't help but be amazed at how rich and diverse Filipino culture is.

Town festivals as unique identifiers may be effective, too -- as can be seen from the many festivals we have created.

However, making use of unique local flora and fauna has an additional advantage: locals will become more aware and be spurred on to protect their own biological resource because it's a part of their identity.

(By the way, the Philippine bird count may yet prove to be misleading, as more and more similar-looking birds are discovered via genetic tests to be subspecies, if not separate species. See these bird trip reports of a foreign tourist, for example (yes, they are the first ones to know and appreciate what we've got!): http://artusobirds.blogspot.com/2012/03/mindanao.html and http://artusobirds.blogspot.com/2012/03/palawan.html)

We Filipinos should start unlearning what we've learned, and be more aware of our many blessings, appreciate them, be thankful to them, and cultivate a healthy sense of pride in what we have been given. We do not have to erase our foreign influences, if positive -- knowing us, we can't anyway. What we need to unlearn is the toxic thought that our very own is inferior and thus shameful. That thought, in itself, is what's shameful.