Vhan Clifford S. Padua
BSCPE – 2
RIZAL 101 - 14902
FS 3:00 – 4:30 PM
Reflection Paper
Sense of Nationalism
In the interview with Professor de Torres, I strongly agree with what he said
about losing the kind of values as a Filipino where we used to care for other
people and especially about our country. It’s the sense of nationalism that
we’re losing, the feeling of belongingness. A good example of this is when
we annually celebrate the Philippines Independence Day. It’s a national nonworking holiday so people are free and through scrolling down to my phone,
I noticed that many people tend to use it as a vacation. I see some spent it
on doing movie marathons and going beaches. I see nothing wrong with that
but this particular day only comes once a year and if only we would treat
this day just like we treat our birthdays, we could appreciate the importance
of this day, the sacrifices that our heroes did, and the independence that we
just took for granted.
I remember going to the Plaza Independencia together with my high school
classmates on Independence Day. I specifically wanted to go inside the Fort
San Pedro and I recall being amazed the first time seeing the insides of it. It
was really a well-preserved historical piece for something so old and
according to them, it was first built back in 1565 led by Miguel Lopez de
Legazpi, the first Governor-General of the Philippines. It served as the
nucleus of the first Spanish settlement in the Philippines. It was like using a
time machine except that it was real. I was happy because I get to know
that this kind of historical site exists in my city and I would like to see the
place during its prime. It’s the simple things like this that help us bring back
the sense of nationalism. Visiting museums or knowing the historical events
of your place is one of those. Having to experienced that brings me closure
to my own city and just knowing that the island I lived in holds a rich history
during the Spanish rule.