I AM FILIPINO

By Caloy Bueno

I am Filipino:

Descended from the noble and fiercely freedom-loving Maharlika race ~

From the forgotten ancient lands lost to the mists of time ~

Migrated to the place that formed a jade archipelago, the “Pearl of the Orient Seas”...


I am Filipino:

Molded independently through the crucible of past events down the ages ~

Becoming disparate tribes, according to where we settled in these islands ~

Our brown ancestry the only common bond across the inter-island seas...


I am Filipino:

Our common ancestry scattered over this archipelago runs through my blood ~

My brown skin the only living proof of our ancestral line, and our heritage ~

But intermingled now with the histories of other peoples that came to our jade isles...


I am Filipino:

A complex modern inhabitant of this our beloved Philippine Republic ~

While conflicted internally by many historical influences and debacles ~

We stand outwardly proud of our ancestral heritage, the Filipino identity of our brown unity…


I am Filipino:

Our quarrelsome character with each other grew from our separate development ~

But when we stand as one, we can dream as one, none can stand against us ~

We win as one, standing for one another as much as we rise together…


I am Filipino:

We are all related through our citizenry, our nationality joined in sovereignty ~

To forge our own destiny by the power that we wield with responsibility ~

Redefining ourselves constantly, by refining our aspirations ever closer to each other’s…


I am Filipino:

Realizing that we can only be as strong as we are able to mask our weakest point ~

We recognize that at long last, we now have real leadership strengthening our greatest weakness ~

Our incapacity to cooperate fully, by making the majesty of law finally work in our favor…


I am Filipino:

Each of us are born not with nobility of purpose but the ability to pursue a noble vision ~

Our keenest struggles as men are fought with our minds, hearts and souls ~

Because we believe fate isn’t decreed by predestination, but mainly determined by our character…


I am Filipino:

The hardest virtue we struggle to learn is earning the tranquility of patience ~

The serenity of calm acceptance and tolerance, and the dignity of quiet surrender ~

The surrender to life’s inscrutable wisdom and natural justice, measuring our individual worth and merit…


I am Filipino:

To the mute but clear challenge of our tomorrows, in the house of the future we cannot go ~

Only our children and their children, as the world constantly spins throughout time ~

Our future is our whole country, our individual destinies intertwined, reinforced by our still being…


FILIPINO!


~ 'pag may time 👊🇵🇭
May 27, 2020