Remember, remember the 30th of December
A blue-blooded mason was shot
We know of no reason
Why this blue-blooded mason
Should ever be forgot
Good day!
Allow us first to apologize for this intrusion of ours. We do, like many of you, appreciate the comforts of everyday routine, the security of the familiar, the tranquility of repetition. We enjoy them as much as anyone would. But in the spirit of commemoration - whereby those important events of the past, usually associated with someone’s death or the beginning of some bloody revolution, are celebrated with a nice holiday. We thought we could mark this December the 30th, a day that is sadly no longer remembered, by taking sometime out of our daily lives to sit down and think for a while.
There are of course those who do not want us to speak. In fact even now, as they read through this, they are already closing their minds to the truth that we speak and brand us as cowards and mere ranters. Why? Because while the truncheon may be used in lieu of conversation, words will always retain their power. Words are the means to meaning; for those who will listen – the enunciation of truth. And the truth is there is something terribly wrong with this country and our own Ateneo community. We have cruelty and injustice, intolerance and oppression, poverty and suffering – all these feasting upon our apathy, ignorance, and inaction. But while some have the freedom to object, to think and speak as you saw fit, you are called destabilizers and anarchists – coercing your conformity, and soliciting your submission and consent. How did this happen? Who’s to blame? Well certainly there are those more responsible than others. They will be held accountable. But again, truth be told, if you’re looking for the guilty, you need only to look at a mirror. We know why you did it. You were afraid, who wouldn’t be? With everyone trying to live a happy, care-free, and comfortable life, only someone deranged would go out of his/her way and act. Everyone is pre-occupied with the worries and demands of mere living – getting high grades, being appreciated by parents, connecting with friends, finding a life-partner, celebrating victories and achievements, mourning over failures and disappointments. There were a myriad of problems that conspire to corrupt your reason and rob you of your common sense. Fear, apathy, and inaction got the best of you. You are resigned to conform and remain silent.
This year, we sought to end that silence. This year, the Society disturbed you from your dwellings of comfort, to remind you what you have forgotten. More than 100 years ago, a group of young men dreamt of a nation that is theirs and the greatest of them died a martyr’s death by gunfire. Our only hope is that his death will not be in vain. We may be free from the colonizers of past, but are we truly a nation worthy of the blood of our heroes? Do our actions give honor to the people who came before us and to the future that lies beyond us? Fairness, justice, freedom, democracy, and nationhood are more than just words. They are perspectives. So if you see nothing, if the crime of inaction remains unknown to you, we would suggest that you allow the 30th of December to pass unmarked. But if you see what we see, if you feel as we feel, and if you would seek as we seek. Then prove yourselves worthy to be called the hope of the motherland. Take a stand and stop thinking of yourself alone! Futures are destroyed for every second of your inaction.
If only we can be true men and women of a nation forged in the blood of heroes - only then can we give that blue-blooded mason, a 30th of December that shall never, ever be forgot!
5 comments:
A few simple concerns I'd like to point out:
- Grammar check: "...a 30th of December that shall never, ever be forgot!" That should be 'forgotten'. Past participle. Grade school pa 'yan. If you want to uphold the so-called 'blue-blooded spirit' by celebrating Rizal, you might as well uphold the university's virtue and tradition of eloquencia while at it. Otherwise, you're just embarrassing the rest of us.
- In fact, this entire entry's an embarrassment, beyond the glaring (and tragic) lack of faculty with language. "Words are the means to meaning," you say, but words alone don't mean anything, and they certainly won't communicate any semblance of meaning when there is none in the first place. Like in this case. You wield such lofty notions without grounding them to reality, to something concrete and relatable, imaginable, motivating and feasible. In fact, because your reasoning is based on generalizations and abstractions, you sound like the very politicians you claim to criticize. (Meaning, of course, that you don't know how to criticize at all.)
- Take Ambeth Ocampo's class. Or read his writings. Learn something real about Rizal and notions like nationhood and heroism.
This is my small tribute to Rizal today: criticizing those who celebrate him by disgracing themselves and his name. :D
To Gadfly: please don't send me any more of your emails until your species has evolved enough to gain some critical faculty and writing skills.
i agree with sarj!
"We know why you did it. You were afraid, who wouldn't be?"
--> "you?" and what are you doing, you gadddflyyyy society? i remember what Scarface said,
YOU NEED PEOPLE LIKE ME. YOU NEED PEOPLE LIKE ME SO YOU CAN POINT YOUR FUCKING FINGERS, AND SAY, THAT'S THE BAD GUY! SO, WHAT'S THAT MAKE YOU, GOOD?
YOU'RE NOT GOOD; YOU JUST KNOW HOW TO HIDE.
Methinks Gadfly was alluding to the Gunpowder Plot with that poem; it resembles the rhyme associated with that event. Or V for Vendetta, at least. Remember, remember the 30th of December? That line alone should ring bells, don't you think? And come on, you're going to be particular about grammar when discussing poetry?
And I entirely fail to see how Gadfly's blog posts and emails infringe upon our lives. They have every right to put up these posts and send those emails, just like you and I can.
Dear Gadflies,
Impressive. Most impressive. Your e-mail of December 30th brought a smile to my face. However, I would be lying if I said that my enthusiasm for what you are doing is unqualified.
I liked the poem. Very cute. Your lovely speech was also very cute.
You neglected to name a source for your eloquent speech. Not so cute. Alan Moore's eloquent words lend strength to your arguments, and yet Alan Moore, his co-writers, and the people who worked on V for Vendetta, movie and graphic novel, get no credit from you. I have no objections to gadflies standing on the shoulders of giants, but I do have problems with gadflies who plagiarize.
But I am nitpicking. The meat of my discomfort with your most eloquent and often controversial movement stems more from the content of your message than from its unnecessarily histrionic medium. Perhaps I am not being as charitable as the season warrants, but as I grow older, I begin to tire of passionate statements that are not backed by sourced, peer-reviewed data and concrete, concise plans of action. Maybe I'm being a prude.
You're good at stirring words, Gadflies. Are you as good at taking action as you are at articulating your vaunted enunciation of truth?
I question your right to deploy our favorite blue-blooded mason as a figurehead for your movement. Plastering photos of our national hero on the internet is hardly original. Frankly, my friends, Trillanes beat you to it - check out the website that went up along with the revolt and see for yourself. The man was quoting Rizal while he was hiding behind hostages and surrendering as soon as his personal safety was threatened.
Does quoting Rizal make you legitimate? Forgive me dear Gadflies, but I would be betraying my professors if I did not exercise some critical thinking here. Understand, it's nothing personal.
You are clever to emphasize that Rizal was a mason. Freemasonry of course is a freethinking secret society with a long history of reverence for truth and of persecution by worldly powers. By emphasizing that Rizal was a mason, you hope to add legitimacy to your - let us face it - controversial secret movement.
What you conveniently do not mention is that Rizal's membership in a secret society has virtually no bearing on his impact on the history of our motherland. The society stoked and encouraged his freethinking nature, true. However, it was through Rizal's participation in OVERT organizations and movements that his contribution to our history was secured. La Liga Filipina (from which the Katipunan was born). The propaganda movement. He published not one, but two very provocative books, and every single one printed had his name in big letters on the cover.
Rizal inspired by speaking out and showing his face. He inspired because he enunciated the truth without the benefit of the shield of anonymity.
I wonder, Gadflies. Is it the fate of our national hero that makes you shy away from showing your faces? Are you afraid of oppression? Do you fear the academic or administrative equivalent of a firing squad if you reveal who you are? This is the only imaginable reason for being a secret society, and frankly, if this is the reason, then you have no right to tell us, in the words of another, uncredited person, that we have to let go of fear. There is only one valid way to lead, Gadflies, and that is by example.
Leading from the shadows and displaying an inability to lay it on the line for the beliefs you are spouting doesn't make you Rizal.
It makes you Trillanes.
Sincerely,
Carlo Antonio R. Rivera IV
042720
IV - AB Literature (English)
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