Rizal, Nationalism, and the Filipino Youth

(I was browsing my files earlier when I chanced upon this old, student essay I wrote as an entry to the National Rizal Youth Leadership Institute (NRYLI) congress organized by the Knights of Rizal in December 2009. This was shortlisted as one of the finalist but failed to make it to the top 5. Haha. Just want to post it here as a memorial to my crusading days as student leader and journalist. Pardon the errors and childish rants. Especially the childish rants :)

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I came to learn that no matter how diverse we are, no matter how we are separated by islands and waters, no matter how different culture and religion defined our perspectives, that people are just the same and are one, and that we are all Filipinos under a common flag, under a common country.

I believe that is the most important of all that must be given due emphasis, so that through our collective efforts and mutual understanding of our differences, we can build a Filipino society wherein one can achieve life—as constitutional creeds put it—with the ‘full measure of happiness’.

And I think that’s what Philippine National Hero Dr. Jose Rizal wanted things to be done in this country on which he has offered his ideals, his dreams, and his life to.

However, we see now a country that is very far from what Rizal had envisioned. What we see now is a Filipino society that is slowly disintegrating from within, basking in the shadows of an overdue but still ever chronic western imperialism.

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And indeed, imperialism.

While we are sitting comfortably, or fidgeting with the pleasures and vanities of this life, thinking that there’s no clear and present dangers that threaten our national sovereignty, our minds and consciences—whatever is left with them—is slowly  being invaded by ideas and philosophies not of our own but of alien origin, and worse, without us knowing it.

Imperialism, either by blunt or direct definition, does not only happen by mere presence of an imminent invasion to a country by another, but also by sheer invasion of the nation’s mind and spirit by another, which makes us end up nothing but the possessed, the colonized, the owned.

It’s hard to admit but it’s true that over time, as the new generation ushers an era of changing landscape politically, morally, spiritually, socially, and culturally, our cherished values as a people and as a nation is being compromised.

What happened to our identity was of course a result of our predilection to the way of life and cultures of the West, while on the other hand we ignorantly or even willingly forsake our own, just for the sake of being ‘in’. Just for the sake of being ‘class’.

What happened to our sense of heroism was of course a result of our fanatical devotion to the heroes introduced to us by Hollywood in the form of Superman, Spiderman, Batman, the CIA, the G-Force (yeah, the ‘super-guinea pigs’) blah, blah, blah, which makes us indifferent and wish that someday some superhero will also come to save our country. Or that perhaps someday some genetically manipulated, talking guinea pigs will be sane enough to wake us up from our deep slumber. Or self-induced apathy.

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What happened to our sense of nationalism was of course a result of the ‘new generation’s’ obsession to whatever they think it is that makes them a nationalist: songs which they think are songs, but songs without lyrics, just noise; hairstyles which to them is an artful disarray that could make even Lady Gaga freak out; fashion which seem to be nationalistic but out of the context of being described as a decent dress.

Of course I am not questioning their sense of ‘fashion’ in a sense that I appear now to be the “Crowned King of ‘KJ’” here, but sometimes, a little prudence cannot hurt.

I wonder how Rizal would react if he sees his country in this sordid situation: mothers leaving their young children for some ‘gossip session’ in the neighborhood instead of looking after their children’s education; fathers who are more concerned on how their macho image look to their ‘kumapares’ than on how they look to their sons; sons and daughters who are more worried about their hairstyles and sense of fashion than what little education they could get into their heads; and politicians who are very eager to build their own lives at the expense of an ignorant people who still pretend that their government is doing its best to alleviate the situation.

When I close my eyes, this is what I see: never before in the history of our country that people—its so-called citizens, are more than willing to sacrifice national identity for the sake of good but foreign dreams that demand us to leave country and serve another, that requires us to abandon families and pursue a ‘greener life’ in an alien community which describes the Filipino—out of prudence and out of sensibility—as a ‘nation of servants’.

And maybe there is truth in that. Philippines is now a country who is more than willing to let her citizens go abroad—and sell her people for the price of dollars, dinars, and what-have-you’s.

Yet inasmuch as the Filipinos wanted to have the simplest but decent life in their own country, they are forced to sacrifice the very little things they have just to go abroad because; one, there seem to be no decent work here that pays a decent salary; two, the government seems incapable to sustain and provide for its people; three, there’s no hope of a good life here in this country, especially when you see that the very government which supposed to ensure your welfare cheats you and plunders what is left with the nation’s coffers.

Yet they said there is still hope, and I’m definitely sure of that. People, not least politicians and teachers and charismatic leaders so love to claim what Rizal said more than a century ago: the youth is the hope of the future; the youth is the hope of the Fatherland. It’s as if the youth is the one last chance of survival for a country that has been deprived of any hope to live. It’s as if the youth is the only deciding factor which has the power to dispel the darkness that shrouds the land. And I couldn't agree more, because I, myself am a believer of the power of the youth in changing the status quo. We have the power change things for the better.

But then again when I close my eyes and grope only in the silent darkness, away from the blaring mob shouting angrily against who-knows-what, this is what I see: an indifferent youth, an apathetic, unthinking Filipino youth. These are the clear and present dangers.

 It’s a hard truth to shallow, but it only begs for me, and hopefully for the youth, to question our indifference, our own apathy, so that we can give an honest answer to the question: what am I doing? What am I here for? Let us not just pass to be youth that only professes to believe in the principles of Dr. Rizal, invoking the ideals of the hero as if it is our own, and yet behaves in direct contradiction to these ideals. Let us not pass the chance to be the change we want to see in the world, as Gandhi said.

I believe that the nation is better served by a youth with the right moral and spiritual perspectives—a youth who put God and country above things, and above self.

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