MOVING ON

On What Michelle Obama Wore When She Came Along With Barack Obama in Saudi Arabia I remarked "awesome!" With a sharing of a posting that received at least 10 likes and 2 shares from my Facebook network, I received an admonition from someone who believes otherwise that what Michelle Obama was not harmful..... Someone wrote down in my Facebook timeline "Why it would be awesome! ! Does respecting other people culture become a sin or f*ck a hit to them !! Ur not belongs to this region of the world .. as we never criticised ur damin open style you are living which against the sole of real Christinty .. don't share such stupid articles which only add hates between people . THANKS" The same person added: " By the way .. am not saudi and i dont wana be , its all about understand and respect" I replied: " U r entitled to ur own opinion, _______ --- that's essential in a real democracy --- & i respect ur right to express ur o

I copy-pasted the exchange of postings among those who shared feedback and myself after an old picture of the Ifugao Rice Terraces was posted on Facebook by the administrators of one of the many pages found in the site. Don't get me wrong but I thought the picture and its description  unwittingly looked down on the native (but not exactly unadulterated) culture of these mountain tribes, some members of whom I like to believe are linked to me by blood (I had a paternal grandmother who was a member of the Isnegs, one of those tribes in the highlands of Luzon, the Philippines' biggest island). I remember being laughed at by my classmates in MBA school when I casually pointed out to them part of my heritage---it was offensive, honestly, that they had to behave that way, considering that most of them are members of Philippine elitist society. But I think a lot of people are learning better these days the value of appreciating one's own heritage, i.e., embracing it for all its fa