Entry 7: Independence Day

June 12 often translates to Kawit, Cavite, Emilio Aguinaldo and, the Philippine flag. To many, this mirrors truth.

While we know the facts on paper, what lacks is an understanding of what we really celebrate every year. Today, how do we really define "Independence"?

Skip the history lessons. Elementary already covered that. Let us ask ourselves, "What does Araw ng Kalayaan mean to me today?"

In the microcosm I belong to, I define the Filipino Independence as a state where one (1.) harvests the best from what the world offers and (2.) makes those work to his/her advantage. We live in a borderless era. Globalization is at hand and the Filipinos have successfully embraced it.

It's just too ubiquitous for us to miss. It's in our jobs, modes of education, vessels of communication, policies, preferences, scientific breakthroughs, and everyday innovation. The Filipino has found his/her way to the world and has harnessed what's good to better our nation.

While many put forth that globalization will lead to a flattening of our culture, I do not share the same thoughts.

Culture is alive! It is the collective face of our ways of living. It has never been dictated from a book. Rather, it has always been a result of how we decide to live our lives. It is not what "should be" but "what is". Thus, our culture will not be "flattened". Filipinos always have a way of acculturating things: adding our own Pinoy flair to something that used to be "foreign".

Three hundred years under Spain, 48 years colonized by America, and some 4 years held captive by Japan--those taught us resiliency. That is what I celebrate every June 12: our successful evolutionary niche of resiliency that hoists the Filipino up after every arduous chapter. We have developed a psyche of continuously striving to marry the best of other nations with our own flavors, strategies, and situation.

Freedom is not just being unbound. It is also finding roots in many shores but still recognize which is home.

We easily reduce June 12 to a piece of cloth and a memory in Kawit, Cavite. But let us remember that we write an infinite story -- history. We are responsible for finding meaning in our daily Filipino affairs; and it is not an option but a moral duty.

Maligayang Araw ng Kalayaan!