These books were read little by little and treated as breathers between larger works, but they are by no means inferior or less meaningful to me. Having finally read the last of the essays, these three are now among the most prized books on my shelf. And I say this with confidence: Filipinos are my favorite essayists!
Using nature as a leitmotif, Aimee Nezhukumatathilโs ๐๐ฐ๐ณ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด nudges us to keep our eyes open with childlike curiosity and to keep our hearts soft. It is amazing how she touches on racism, school shootings, climate change, and lifeโs difficulties without any hint of vitriol. Her writing is refreshing โ not like a cool drink on a summer day. Refreshing like a good cry that unburdens the heart and reminds you of lifeโs wonders. Our hearts need this.
Gideon Lascoโs ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ญ๐ช๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ช๐ด ๐๐ฐ๐ต ๐ข ๐๐ฎ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ต๐ณ๐บ is a gift to the Filipino people that we should embrace with gratitude. He shows us the Philippines for what it really is and how deserving it is of new and hopeful eyes. What Iโve written about Pamuk and his relationship with Turkey, I can also write about Lasco and his relationship with our country: He is someone who recognizes a nation profoundly inside out, from its complicated politics to its inner conflicts and issues, its customs and traditionsโฆ and offers a viewpoint only a lasting lover can deliver who, after having seen a belovedโs glories and deepest flaws and undesirable secrets, remains and continues to love.
“When we realize that we Filipinos, far from passive victims of history, have always been active in making not just our history but that of the world, we begin to overcome the feeling of smallness that sets back our geopolitical imagination. What our past should give us is not an enmity for those who pressed us but an empathy for those who experience oppression.
What our past should give us is neither a feeling of victimization nor entitlement but a dignity of a people that has suffered much โ but has overcome more.”
Even though there is so much to resonate with and quote from Carmen Guerrero Nakpilโs ๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ ๐๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐๐ด๐ด๐ข๐บ๐ด despite being written between 1951-1961, Iโm choosing to end with these relevant reminders as today we witness President Duterteโs final State of the Nation Address.
โ “Politics is not all crooks and racketeers and ten percenters. It is not the loud, interminable speechesโฆ or the handshaking in the barrios while a photographer snaps his camera or the number of dancing girls given to each delegate to the national convention. That is not politics, but only its aberrations. Among many of us, those practices have come to mean politics. But they are only the abuse of politics.”
โ “This is one of the beautiful paradoxes of politics. Politics may make us, but it is for us to shape it.”
โ “You should learn to look at elections, not as contests in goodness or popularity between two or more men, but as a national stock-taking, an occasion for citizens to make up their minds which course of national action to choose over another.”
โ “You see how important it is for all citizens to be intelligent, well informed and judicious.”
โ “The question is not whether some of us do not love our country or some of us do. The question is in what way we love it.”
โ “As a parting favor, I would like to ask you all intelligent women not to take my word for this or for anything. Think about the things we have discussed here, and ponder on them yourself. Discuss them with your friends, seek the opinion of others, but make the decision yourself.”
โ “In your intelligence, application, your honesty with yourself, and in your wisdom, will lie the future of the Philippines.”
The Book-Butterfly 