(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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