i have been assisting in a research on the philippine- american war by looking at the Philippine revolutionary records/insurrection records (PRR or PIR) at the national library (kalaw, manila). i've been also looking at rare serials between 1899 to 1913.
the first day i read through first few documents on microfilm, i felt different. a melodramatic feeling inside, my heart. i was with my American friend who was the one doing the research... (if it wasn't for her, i would not have encountered these documents!) i never realized how much i do not about this country that i was born in.
habang binabasa ko ang mga sulat sa isa't isa ng mga rebolusyonaryo noon, para akong naiiyak na hindi. i can't describe the feeling. the letters showed how each one cared for the other. how corruption and wrongdoings were taken seriously. women berated drunken revolutionary men, and often risked their lives to bring food to their relatives. the words of those who wrote were always full of love and concern. there was a strong valuing of transparency, of dialogue. . . there was a strong feeling of being one, for a nation-in-the-making.
if i had read, had the chance to read through these documents when i was in elementary or highschool, perhaps i would have become a better citizen than i am today. if most of us were taught the value of really knowing and reading our past, aside from what history books offer, perhaps this country would have better citizens. less divided, with less strife. more openness, more love. deeper connection with our historical past.
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