Following the September 11 attacks, a vengeful White House exploited the fears of the American people by resorting to its own brand of terror “in order to protect our way of life." To ensure acquiescence to his war policies, Bush told everyone to act normally and go on shopping. In other words, keep on producing and consuming while the war machine bombs our “enemies.” Never mind the innocent casualties - Iraqi men, women and children who never threatened the United States in the first place.

As widely reported, the war in Iraq - a brazen invasion and occupation of another country - has resulted in thousands of lives lost and billions of dollars squandered, money that should have gone to education, health care and anti-poverty programs. Even more dismaying is the way wounded Iraq War veterans are now being mistreated after serving honorably. The stories in the “Washington Post” about conditions at the Walter Reed Hospital attest to this smug indifference. But that should not surprise us. Look at what they’ve done to our Filipino World War II veterans.

Then there’s the stunning apathy towards Hurricane Katrina victims. Nearly two years later, thousands of Gulf Coast families are still struggling in the wake of the Bush administration’s neglect and inept response to America ‘s greatest natural disaster. Poor leadership exposed for all the world to see abject insensitivity toward millions of Americans who live in poverty.

And how do we reconcile America’s image as generous and welcoming to the U.S. government’s growing hostility towards immigrants? What happened to the compassionate George W. Bush whose White House is now plotting with conservative politicians to eliminate family-based preferences, and making it extremely difficult for the undocumented to legalize their status? Most of these people work hard to earn a living in order to support their families. They pay  their taxes and build strong communities. The U.S. now wants to kick them out.

So what is it about the political environment and its institutions that have shaped the nature of our discourse? “Why is the ground of contemporary culture so barren that a rich and grounded moral vision has a hard time taking root and gaining public support?" How do we re-engage with what is real - other human beings who want the same things in life like everybody else?

Borgmann suggests that we look into the moral structure of the material culture and discover “the levees, dams and channels that constrain the course of life, and ... the things of art and nature that inspire and engage us."

In helping reshape America’s political landscape - and perhaps provide some antidote - Filipinos have a lot to contribute. Such as “reclaiming the cultures of the table and the art and virtue of the household. We love to create space and readiness for recognizing and engaging the sacred in our midst." Spirituality, after all, is a special gift we bring to America . We center our lives in our homes, among family, friends and neighbors. We love to gather in our mother’s kitchen to catch up on the latest “tsismis.” We look forward to family reunions with siblings and cousins, aunts and uncles, nephews and nieces and grandparents.

We have that “Pinoy” factor. As columnist Gilda Cordero-Fernando describes the Filipino, albeit tongue-in-cheek, “he’s a citizen of the world, he’s in all the villages and capitals, colonizing the West, bringing his guitar and his “bagoong,” his “walis na tingting,” his ‘tabo," his “lolo”and “lola.” Filipinos like to “yakap, akbay, hawak, kalong, kalabit." We sleep side by side, “siping-siping,” we go out “kabit kabit.” “There’s lots of us to go around.” Our ‘yayas," she goes on to say, teach American kids to pray so they become more gentle and more obedient. “The Pinoy finds time to be nice, to be kind, to apologize, to be there when you’re depressed, to help you with your “utang” and your wedding dress. The Filipino is a giver, never mind what it does to his liver, never mind what it takes. Hardships of the Third World don’t dry up his blood, they just make him more compassionate, more feeling, of the other guy’s lot."

We celebrate ‘tayo" (us) instead of ‘sila"(them). Filipino author and sociologist Melba Padilla Maggay calls it our strength - “a sense of the ‘kapwa tao," or a shared sense of identity and consciousness of the “other.” The Filipino family has every potential to expand beyond the boundaries of kinship and enlarge the sense of one’s “sakop” to the proportions of a nation.

I must admit that I personally experience this overwhelming feeling of “pakikipag-kapwa” every time I attend three generations of Elvi and Rey Bangit’s extended family gatherings, where everyone is related even if some are not blood relatives. It’s the quintessential “tribong pinoy.”

And that is truly what we bring - special gifts that may yet transform this hostile landscape into the decent country  that it is: Our rich and vibrant cultural values and heritage.

Everyone knows that we get along with just about anybody regardless of color, creed, gender or hair-do. As Borgmann argues, “once we have gathered at the dinner table, wisdom and friendship can be ours, and they in turn can give us the courage to join with our neighbors in the design of a public realm that encourages celebration. Perhaps we can draw from common celebrations the generosity and resourcefulness to meet our obligations of justice and stewardship. Thus the United States may become the country of grace that the people who came here have searched for and worked for."

The coming months - May and June - provide opportunities to engage the American public and energize our mutual encounters not only with our food, songs and dances, but with the vitality and vibrancy of our human spirit. Who knows, this might just soften the hard edges of those gray and granite structures. Sure, as Cordero-Fernando muses, America has got “the infrastructure, the theatres and architecture. Who but ‘Pinoys’ direct their plays or train their company managers?"

So there. Aren’t we something?

E-mail your comments to jonmele@aol.com