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I am a Filipino and I love being one |
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Monday, 24 July 2006 |
I am a Filipino. I love being a Filipino. My skin is always tanned, no need to spend hours under the harmful rays of the sun. My skin is also young-looking, thanks to the humidity of the tropics. My nose is flat – no problem of bumping noses when I kiss the people I love.
I love the large Filipino families where everybody seems to be a relative. I will never be lonely. And when I’m old and gray, I will not be sent to a nursing home to be cared for by strangers.
I love Filipino food – daing na bangus, sinangag and tomatoes for breakfast; rice and all kinds of “sawsawan” with my meals – toyo, patis, suka, bagoong, I love kare-kare, pinakbet, sinigang, lechon, all types of inihaw. I enjoy halo-halo and “dirty ice-cream.”
I enjoy the watching the sunset in Manila Bay or in the different beaches that our country boasts off. I love the cool breeze in Tagaytay and the even cooler breeze in Baguio.
I love so many things about being a Filipino but does this love I have translate into genuine patriotism? As I look at all the wonderful things I love about my country and about being a Filipino, I see I have much to be thankful for. My country has really given me so much and it pains me to see the endless problems that our country faces these days. If I were a true patriot, I would not want to be part of the problem, I would want to be part of the solution.
True Filipino patriots, like Jose Rizal, Andres Bonifacio, Ninoy Aquino loved the Philippines so much, they offered their lives for it. If I were a true patriot I would feel the same way. If I were a true patriot, I would love my country with deep passion and compassion, to the depth and breadth of my being. I would live with the conviction that the Filipino is worth living and dying for. I may not be a true patriot now, but I will try. And with every little thing I do for my country, my love for it would grow. For it is in giving oneself that one learns the true meaning of love and unless I am willing to share my time, talent and treasure with my country, my love for it would remain superficial never truly patriotic.
by: Ted & Susan Concepcion
Council Overseer, Membership Formation Ministry &
Shepherds & Sharers Formation Ministry
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Last Updated ( Monday, 24 July 2006 )
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