Self Respect

I love to reiterate cliches and allow me to site this famous speech from John F. Kennedy, "Ask not what your country can do for you but ask what you can do for your country."

Our country the Philippines has been blessed by the freedom of speech fruit of our democratic way of life. However these days had been routinely in doubt if these gift would bring us up or drag us down. It caught my attention tonight while watching the news about a student from the University of the Philippines so called "iskolar ng bayan" (national scholar) shouting and disrupting the formality of the ceremony. Students from this institution has always been infamous for this act, fearless to fight for rights and freedom. This fearlessness that I adore so much however sometimes this fearlessness had been too much a nagger, irritating, and just ricocheting the ill effect instead of rectification.

I had been part of this elite university once in my life but I can attest not all professors and students in the University of the Philippines agree to what these loud students been fighting in an ill mannered way. The national hero Jose Rizal regarded the youth as the hope of the motherland, years had passed and all those youth had become adults and yet we still continue to hope and rear again new youths for new hopes in a cycle. How long shall we hope and why are we still the same? Why is it the Philippines still part of the third world? Because we ourselves do not know how to start fixing ourselves. What do you think you can do to become a good citizen? Honor yourself and establish integrity. Know how to respect yourself. If you want to send a message to authorities, deliver it in a way your education had brought you up. All students from the University of the Philippines had their tuition fees paid by the government. Even some students would say they pay in full is a big lie because that full tuition they are paying is not even the equivalent full tuition paid by students in private universities.


If we still continue to inculcate in our mind that leaders of these country are not worth at all, so who will? Why don't we just find ways to the solution instead of becoming an add on burden from being a social nagger. It's good to be a watch dog, becoming vigilant, and to notice things which we think is wrong. However not that much that we forgot to respect ourselves and not to the point that we ourselves do not know how to compromise that we have roles and responsibility for the betterment of this country. Not that much that we do not attend our classes just to join the rally on the streets. Not that much that we are already disrupting the traffic bothering other people of their businesses. Not that much that we are destroying public properties by putting up graffiti of protests and burning school facilities. Not to the point that you are climbing the mountains to join the communists just because you are dissatisfied how the country is being run. Try to fix yourself, try to think how you will make the Philippines better in optimism. Just try and surely you will realize that somehow you also missed something to nag yourself.