As a member of the Filipino Youth Association and an avid Filipino community activist with a deep rooted Filipino …show more content…
Their family was extremely wealthy, my Uncle Israel was a dentist and his wife a high school principal. Their kids went to a nice private school, and had the latest in kiddy fashion (my 6 year old cousin had her own iphone 6 plus). When asked about the drought, my eleven year old cousin dressed in a nice button down shirt and khaki pants replied with “What drought?”. “Alright”, I thought, “Maybe he’s too young to know about the drought”. But what really took me by surprise was the fact that my 18 year old cousin, who was now attending CSU Long Beach, Catie, had never even known that California was in an unprecedented drought. All she had noticed was that it “hadn’t rained in a while”. Catie was a heavily religious person, relating mostly everything in life to Biblical verses which admittedly became annoying after the first hundred times. “God will provide for your needs Josh, just keep praying” she would say. But I knew getting out of this heavy drought wouldn’t be that easy. You can’t just play the get out of jail free card whenever you’re facing …show more content…
As my pastor would say in church with his thick filipino accent, “The drought is a mere test by God, to see if we can hold faith through rough times”. Whether this is right or wrong is up to the individual, but the fact of the matter is that since many Filipinos believe that God will provide, my mother for example, many don’t take measures to reduce their water consumption and instead choose to strengthen their faith in God. Based on my observations, interviews, and casual conversations with my family, friends, and community, It has become obvious that many filipinos are largely apathetic towards the drought. Few people have taken actions to limit their daily intake of water and those that have done something haven’t done so voluntarily. They have a sense of security, whether that be through their religion or just plain ignorance, which prevents them from feeling the need to take action. Most people fail to recognize the severity of the whole ordeal and what could become of our beloved California