8 - Filipino Pride

“I am Filipino, 

I am responsible for my glorious past, with an obligation to uncertain future.” 

Those are some significant lines of the famous literary called “I am Filipino,” that was written by a true Filipino named Carlos P. Romulo. 

So there was this question, “Do I have what it takes to be a Filipino?” My answer for that would be yes, because definitely, I was born a Filipino and I am really proud of it, and I don’t care on what other foreign people would say about us Filipinos.

Do I have what it takes to be a Filipino? Yes indeed, because I love my own country and I will do whatever it takes just to keep it safe, even if it costs me my life. And that’s what all of our brave heroes did to obtain the peace that belongs to us Filipinos before they die battling against the foreign oppressors in the Philippines.

Filipinos are well known to have the same unique, great qualities, which we inherited from our Filipino culture, and that would be our hardworking, hospitality, gratefulness, faithfulness, respectfulness, and integrity. These are the exceptional qualities that make a true Filipino, and that’s why most foreign people always look up to us.

After all those generations that our country went through, in terms of our appearances, I couldn’t say that we all have a pure Filipino blood that flows in our bloodstreams. Perhaps some of us might look like Chinese or Japanese, but in our spirits, lies the true blood of a Filipino.

You’re not a Filipino, if you didn’t know how to speak our native language or if you’re ashamed of your mother tongue, because Jose Rizal once said, "He who does not love his own language is worse than an animal and smelly fish."

A true Filipino has the courage of facing all sorts of problems, whether it’s severe or not. Despite of the calamities that our country went through, we Filipinos are still going strong and have shown some signs of downheartedness, yet it doesn’t last long, for instance, the victims of Typhoon Yolanda had experienced a drastic disaster, yet they still did not lose hope and faith. We could see it from their faces that it doesn’t affect their lives as a Filipino citizen, as long as we are united, we could help each other out and fix those casualties together immediately.

There’s no positive without negative, isn’t it? After all those positive things that I described earlier about our Filipino traits, there are still negative habits that a Filipino has nowadays, even though we’re in one of the religious country in Asia, and sadly, All of us knew about it, but some are still doing it, such as riots, robbery case, murder, and raping. 

Our generation nowadays, are much more different than before, or should I say becoming worse. Lack of discipline and negligence, these are the words that describes most of the Filipino teens today. I have seen street teens that sniff solvents along the roadside, a lot of riots made by gangsters, and non-stop drinking of beers by young people.

Do you know that we should be the one who’ll be keeping our society on the right track? The track that our recent forefathers left to us. As Jose Rizal had once said, “The youth is the hope of our future.” We are the hope of the next generation, for we could be heroes just like Diego Silang, Lapu - Lapu, and Jose Rizal. Be a living legend. Be proud, because Filipinos are worth dying for.