Saturday, June 28, 2014

WE AND US




The nation is “we and us”, never “they and them”. It starts with “I and me” and my relations with/beliefs about “we and us”. In Dr. Rizal’s time, our country had worse and bigger problems though with lesser population. Yet despite clear threats to his and his family’s life and limb, he decided to be here after gaining more light, because here is where the battle is. Prior to his return, he wrote the Spanish colonial governor-general of his motivation: his country’s moral and material prosperity.

How about “we and us” –here and now - putting our hearts and heads together, focusing on our current blessings and opportunities in the unified area of moral and material progress, and in peace and joyfulness (in the context of seeking first God’s Kingdom and righteousness within each), working together as a solid team, building each other up, nurturing mutual esteem and mutual respect, and in Dr. Rizal’s words (Hymn to Talisay), resolutely move forward: “Firme y constante, siempre adelante tú marcharás. ¡Tú, victorioso, todo elemento, mar, tierra y viento,  dominarás! Firm and constant, always advancing you shall march. You, triumphant, all element - sea, land and air: you shall master!”

Thursday, June 19, 2014

Happy Birthday, Pepe, and Thanks



By Edwin D. Bael, June 19, 2014

Having studied a little of your works, dear Don Pepe,
I feel I know you a little somehow, like your agape
For Inang Bayan, this jewel of the sea of the orient,
That she may hold her smooth forehead high unbent:
Enjoy her dark eyes dry, her visage without frown,
No wrinkles, no stains of shame on her beauty brown.

Today we commemorate your “being given to the light”
Recalling the why of your existence, your life birthright;
How you sought to rectify what in her was improper,
Those within her and inflicted upon her by the colonizer;
You calmly faced death, falling to give her power to fly,
Dying to give her vigor to live, resting under her sky.

Like the moth attracted to the lamp, you sought fire
And light that you could set on fire awareness left dire
Amongst your people who had forgotten how to be human
Made as Beings Unlimited, fearing rather the bogeyman;
You wrote to give us light and love that we may awaken,
That noble deeds and self-respect shall forever be retaken.

So, Happy Birthday, Pepe! And thank you for your wisdom   
And your vision for us to become people at home in freedom,
Having respect by others and according mutual esteem;
Let our tribute for you be such as to rise above and redeem
Trivialities, egoistic positioning and self-serving publicity
And be for daily effort at our moral and material prosperity.