You asked if there's an English word for the Pilipino word
"malasakit," and if I consider the term "discretionary effort" as its English equivalent particularly as it applies in the workplace.
Justine, my answer to your first question is "Yes," and I'll expound on that very shortly. To the second question, though, I don't think the term "discretionary effort" for
"malasakit" hits the nail right on the head. What the word "discretionary" means is "exercised at one's own discretion"--just that without the element of "great caring" and "strong concern" that I believe are the hallmarks of
"malasakit."Dr. Cielito Habito, the Filipino economist and college professor who was the country's NEDA cabinet secretary in the 1990s, described
"malasakit" as "a beautiful Tagalog word" and admirably went to great lengths to define it
in his newspaper column in 2016. He admitted that the word appears to have no direct English translation but that the words “care,” “concern,” “stewardship,” “compassion,” and “empathy” have been suggested to be similar in meaning yet don't quite capture the full essence of
"malasakit."Dr. Habito then saw in a reformed Manila panhandler-gambler named Sylvia the aspect of
"malasakit" that had eluded his efforts to capture its essence in a single English word. For Sylvia, after a long addiction to gambling that literally made her pray that people would die "because with every funeral wake comes the chance to gamble 'legally,'” the turning point and change of heart came for her when she was selected as a grantee for the government's for the
Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps)--Meeting the Family's Basic Needs Program--at the time.
Sylvia stopped engaging in her vices after being told that as a 4Ps grantee, she won't be allowed to gamble, drink, and pawn her bank ATM card by which the monthly grant was dispensed to her. As Dr. Habito described in his column, "Sylvia chose to become an example. She chose to take action through volunteering, guiding, and coaching her neighbors. She showed
malasakit for the aid she received, and not simply accepted it passively. She took ownership of the grant she was given, and took responsibility for it."
Then, although still groping in his column to capture the essence of
"malasakit" in a single English word, Dr. Habito concluded that "(t)he beauty of
malasakit is that its action does not expect an equivalent return."
At his point, Justine, I trust that it's not too late in the day and in our time--more so now that the world is still fighting a prolonged war against the deadly Covid-19 scourge--for me to offer one single English word for
"malasakit" that had continued to elude Dr. Habito and not just a few others among us over the years.
IMAGE CREDIT: YOUTUBE.COM That English word is "solicitude." It is the state of being deeply concerned and anxious not just about one's personal well-being but of everybody else's, the attitude of earnest concern and continuing attention about the health, safety, well-being, and survival of all our fellow human beings in this planet.
Yes, I'm confident that "solicitude" is the precise word. It is the essence, the fundamental element in
"malasakit" that we've been searching for all this time.
