Myths of Filipino inferiority obscures a true understanding of our own history and culture as a nation. A contemporary and patriotic historian once issued the following admonition -
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When there is an attempt to understand society not in terms of myths and theories but in terms of the concrete experience and sufferings of the people, history acquires practical significance. For only if they are armed with a concrete understanding of Philippine reality can the Filipino people act correctly to change that reality. And this understanding can come about by a systematic and patriotic effort to synthesize the experience of the past in order to obtain a concrete vision of the future. History, then, should serve the purpose of integrating seemingly isolated facts and events into a coherent historical process so that a view of the totality of social reality may be achieved. Only then can facts be really understood and not be merely known; only then can this understanding of facts become an understanding of society; only then can history be perceived as a unified process. Only then can history have a goal, And when history has a goal, the past ceases to dominate the present, and to hold back the future (Renato Constantino, The Philippines: A Past Revisited, Manila, 1975. p. 404).
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Casting Away the Myth of Filipino Faintheartedness
(A Journey from Ningas Kugon to Alab Ko-op)
sa aking palagay…
hindi makatarungang ang kugon ay kasamang hinamak
nang hamakin ang Filipino sa karakter niyang
madaling panawan ng sigla o sigasig – ningas kugon lang
da’ntaon din tayong pinaglingkuran ng hamak na kugon—
ipinagsanggalang sa init at lamig—bago tayo naakit ng
magarang yero na produkto ng industrialisasyon
hindi masamang yakapin ang pagunlad
lisanin lang na may pasasalamat
ang hamak na pinagmulan
tingnang malapitan ang natutupok na kugon
sa pagpanaw ng ningas kasamang pumapanaw
ang hamak niyang buhay
di ba larawan ito ng dakilang pag-aalay
ang pagbabago ng lipunan ay di nagsisimula sa malaking lagablab
28 katao lamang ang nagsimula ng lakbaying ko-operatiba
na ngayo’y tinatahak ng 800 milyon katao sa buong mundo[1]
ningas ng kugon ay ningas ng kabayanihan
sa ‘sang kisap-matang pag-aalay ng buhay nina
Jose Rizal at Ninoy Aquino
dinakila ng mundo ang lahing Filipino.