Think about our national identity
- our being Filipino -
(being the quality of our being citizens to each other)
meditate deeply on how other nations perceive us
and how we perceive ourselves as a nation among nations
does it not suffer the pain of these divisions?
War is the bane of all nations.
(Divided in our Lands, Divided in our Soul)
My fellow Filipinos -
a nation divided on the outside
is a nation divided on the inside.
This conflict among Filipinos
is more internal than we might
want to allow ourselves to think.
The spirit of War
stultifies our very thinking,
our common identity is confused by it,
it obscures our Republic vision
and worse of all,
the concentrated spirit of our nationhood
is severely weakened by it
We are only a shadow
of our potential
divided in our lands
and therefore,
divided in our soul.
Numerous are the challenges
of this new age, my beloved people,
and we shall never be met enough
to meet and overcome these
- unless -
we are one.
Truly,
there is no other time
in our history as a nation
that we are in need of peace
than today...
---<--@
The Filipino soul is affected by this war among ourselves
more than the ordinary Filipino might want to think.
Herein lies the problem -
we, the people, become complacent
and accept a vision of our Philippines
which is but a fraction of our fullest potential.
No, this is not where we should be, my people!