The following has been written 10 years ago. When I was skimming my old notes, I found this. I thought this would serve better if I shared it unadulterated with the readers. This was printed in a local newspaper in Bicol in 2000.
“Youth is to all the glad season of life; but often only by what it hopes, not by what it attains, or what it escapes.” – (Thomas Carlyle)
Two driving forces why things change are the curiosity and discontent of the young as opposed to the prevalent resistance to change of the aged.
Youth can be a state of the mind. People remain young if they hold on to their ideals, an ingredient that can make nations great; if the youth keeps their enthusiasm to power their nations forward; if they display vigor which springs hope for a better tomorrow.
Youth speaks.
Today I live in a society where oppressive systems are deeply rooted and wholly accepted. My forefathers who fought hard to regain freedom from foreign intrusion forgot to follow it up with its price – vigilance. Our society has somehow evolved to its present state, still I hardly can call my own. Most, if not all, features are borrowed, save the person, but the lifestyles, educational system, music, literature can be taced back to the colonizers of our land.
Our youth is blazing the trail of globalization losing his/her own identity, engulfing him/herself in a strange body and being, betraying his/her true roots, and selling his/her bare soul. None of a character of own. I dread to witness the day coming when no youth can identify with Bonifacio, Del Pilar, Silang, Sakay, the Katipuneros; I dread the day.
Faced with the impending fall of our own beloved nation in the hands of the glutton and inept system, I am up to the challenge of engaging myself to the struggle of the oppressed. I can always contribute to the revolutionary change our society needs. I am going to break the conventionals and formalities that have been impeding our creative and imaginative minds, pulling us down to the abyss of ignorance, conformity and poverty. I will crush the influence of imperialism, even the slightest shade of it to take the consciousness of our fellow youth to the new heights and level where it can lead to self-determination. I will go and grow with them liberated from the bondage of the past and present chains to see and reflect and examine our being. These I all do in the name of common good, justice and equality.
Though I know one little candle light in the land is nothing but a dim light, I will not stop burning up to my last wax because I am convinced that there are other lights out there that too are burning with flame. I will pierce the darkness with my straight light and let others see the goodness and brightness of the light. Someday I am going to meet them and we all will give light and warm to others and then, build a society founded in equality, justice and common good, based on a culture that is ours, understood by all in a language native to our tongue. Then it will be a society truly of our own.
This is the society I dream. Can’t we have the same dream?
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