I remember Carlos P. Romulo's speech "I Am a Filipino." It was quite a lengthy piece that I had to memorize for speech class but I still have a lot of brain cells back in high school days so I was able to memorize it. To this day, I still remember one paragraph that says :
"I am a Filipino, child of the marriage of the East and the West. The East, with its languor and mysticism, its passivity and endurance, was my mother, and my sire was the West that came thundering across the seas with the Cross and Sword and the Machine. I am of the East, an eager participant in its spirit, and in its struggles for liberation from the imperialist yoke. But I also know that the East must awake from its centuried
It saddens me when I look at the plight of our country. Indeed, we as a people need to wake up from our lethargic sleep. We need to see beyond our own helplessness and hopelessness. We need to see beyond the fulfillment of our own needs and do something for the country, something that will spur change for an ailing nation. I have seen a few Filipinos do that. If only more would start working for change. But change has to come from the inside first. We need to believe that there is more to life than simply putting food in our mouths or having our own house and a car.
Mr. Carlos P. Romulo wrote this piece back in 1941, a couple of years before both my parents were born. How has our country progressed since? As an adult, I've seen how nothing much has changed. We were once the envy of neighboring countries also ravaged by war but they have come out of the ashes....and we, well we eat their dust. But no matter how much we are left behind, I believe our time will come. I only hope that I will live long enough to see that dream become a reality.
"I am a Filipino born to freedom, and I shall not rest until freedom shall have been added unto my inheritance—for myself and my children and my children’s children—forever.”
NB: For the full article, read it here: I Am a Filipino
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