Explanation:
Over 100 years have passed since these words were written, and yet the challenge to us, the Filipino youth, is as relevant as ever. As young adults on the quest of discovering who we are and who we are meant to be, the role of nation building has been firmly placed in our hands. Mentors from generations before have done their part in shaping the nation and are grooming us, the Filipino youth, to be the next change agents.
In our short stay here, we have witnessed the tragic effects of our nation’s most lamentable social ills: the orchestrated misuse of government funds, the systemic violation of basic human rights, and the continuous loss of life and property due to abandonment and greed.
Through all of these, it has become more and more apparent that our nation needs more Filipinos than citizens.
It is easy to imbibe “Filipino Pride” in our moments of triumph – with every win of Manny Pacquiao, every article on the Philippines as the projected thriving economy of the next decade, and every tourist video espousing the natural beauty of our motherland.
But being Filipino is much more than a celebration of our collective successes; it is also an inheritance of the not-so-beautiful aspects of this country: its culture of impunity, widespread poverty, and institutional corruption, among others.
As indigenous peoples' rights advocate Lourie Victor says, “Being Filipino means accepting the beauty and the madness of this nation.” But more than just accepting its flaws, we are challenged to be the change we want to see in this nation, because we are indeed the future.
#CARRYONLEARNING
