Proud to be Pinoy

I remember my own highschool friends telling me how nationalistic I am. Am I, really?

Back then, others saw me as nationalistic because I've always been proud of my skin color, because I didn't want to leave the country, and because I spoke good Tagalog. Hindi naman dahil sa malalim ang aking pananalita ng wika. Marahil naaangkop lamang talaga ang paggamit ko ng mga salita dahil hilig ko talaga ang pagsulat.

But it doesn't end there.That doesn't even reach 1/4 of being nationalistic.Nationalism isn't about these superficial things. It's not based on one's skin color nor is it based on one's manner of speaking or one's current location. I can be nationalistic even if I were fair skinned (which I'm not) or even if I were elsewhere in the world or even if I could not speak the language as well as others (but believe me, I do and I'm proud of it!).

It is the love for one's nation.
It is the love for being a Filipino.
And when you love something, you are proud of it.
You want only the best for it.

With all the events happening in our country, I sometimes find myself hiding behind the superficial. I talk about things that directly concern me as if I don't see the other things happening. But they've always been there. And I often stop to think about them. I watch the news. I read the newspaper. And I ask myself, what is it that I can do?

Wowowee stampede. Deaths.
Tragedy in Leyte. Deaths.
Proclamation 1017. Rallies. Charges. Deaths.
Others equate life with freedom. Without freedom, life could not be considered as such.

I give it a thought. And another. Just that, plain thoughts.Such a shame. How many are doing the very same thing? Sometimes silently. Sometimes aloud. But still, just thinking.

It's the system. How do we change a system? If it were like a computer, we could have restarted it a long time ago (or was it reboot? sorry, I'm not much of a techie). Quin had a point when he wrote about how to solve the system's problem if it were a computer. Sadly, it's not.

No matter how small, I have plans to contribute.

Plan 1:
donations for Leyte victims - check!

Plan 2:
join Sarah this coming April to build homes in Leyte - summer

Plan 3:
Ask my friends to do the same - summer

Plan 4:
create my research survey for Psych grad class revolving around the current events and finding out other students' sentiments on the issues - still ongoing

Plan 5:
I'm still thinking what else I could do aside from praying, writing, and persuading...

* * * * *
I still can't say at this point if I truly am nationalistic in every sense of the word, whether my friends have been correct all along or not. But these are the things that I am certain of...

I love our country.
I love the Filipino people.
I'm definitely proud to be one.
And I'm willing to do my share.