English - Balay Mindanaw

Part 2 - Four Datus: Stories of the Higaunon LifeCoping with a Complex Situation’Tay Dikno said that it is difficult to maintain the traditionin the midst of modernization.“I don’t know if we can still keep our tradition. I’d saymaybe 90 percent that we can’t keep it as it was. It’s becauseof several modern influences nowadays. While us the oldergeneration wanted it here in our traditional lands, but ourchildren travel everywhere they want to.”Aside from the opportunities to travel outside theirtraditional areas, even in their midst there are variousagents of change. Among these are the media, like televisionand videos, said ’Tay Dikno. The shows broadcast in thesecommunication devices, he said, are what is occupying theminds of their young. They learn bad things from the media,’Tay Dikno maintains.“I don’t know. I haven’t seen shows in Betamax. They haveTV, CD, too. Then they would show movies they call ‘gold,’or ‘bold,’ or is that ‘gold label’? [Laughing.] The children getto see those, which could pollute their minds.”’Tay Dikno abhorred these communication devices. Heremarked that in his home, they do not even have a transistorradio. He used to own one, but it incurred huge expenses onbatteries, so he told his children that instead of buying batteries,they better use the money to buy clothes or underwear, orsalt. It is not easy to earn money, he stressed.He only wished that his children would not experience allthe hardships he had undergone. But he said that if they donot listen to his advice, they might even experience worse.Education is very important, according to ’Tay Dikno, but itrequires patience and hard work. He told his children thatsince they were not able to finish their studies, they might as97