ALL SALUTATIONS are meant
to invoke into our collective memory
the reality of something good.
Evil
being devoid of that excellence
we tend in spirit to honor and admire
is not something we commonly salute
as human beings - and so -
as human nations together
we do not openly invoke evil
in our salutations.
(Therefore,
we may safely exclude
from this particular reflection
anything else but the good in things.)
(The National Salutation)
"Mabuhay"
is the salutation
associated with the Philippines.
(As such,
it is quite familiar
to all of us Filipinos
and even to other nations.)
It is not a salutation of individuals.
- selah -
Therefore,
it can never be
something meant to refer to
(1) any single individual - or -
(2) anything about the life of any single individual - or -
(3) anything about his or her personal virtues
no matter how excellent.
So what does it mean
when we Filipinos say "mabuhay"?
And
when we Filipinos do say "mabuhay"
what for or to whom in particular
do we tend to - consciously -
as well as - unconsciously -
address this to?
Mabuhay
simply means "to bring to life".
It is a salutation
that invokes "life" or the quality of it.
Now,
the life of any nation
is the product of the quality
of the communities that exists
wholly within itself.
It is therefore,
a measure of the sum
of all its relationships,
vertical and then horizontal.
(This sum
is always positive
no matter how deteriorated
any nation becomes.
For
there are no last peoples
only disappeared cultures.
Indeed,
there will always be
- remnant nations -
for as long as there are
nations upon our world.
Because
just as there are no such things
as false hopes, only real ones;
there are no such things
as false relationships,
only real ones.)
Now,
the quality
of these relationships
within the nation
is a product of
the quality
of the national remembrance.
For it is remembrance
that dictates the quality
of the national peace.
- selah -
My brother and sister Filipinos -
Mabuhay - is -
the salutation of our nation
in its entirely - and so -
must refer to the quality of the life
of the nationhood in each ourselves
- as well as -
the completeness of the sacred remembrances
we must together keep through all our generations
as a nation upon this earth.
It intends
to specifically invoke
- in the one Filipino heart -
a memory of itself.
It is a salutation
addressed directly and simultaneously
to all Filipinos from everywhere
and from every time
and is meant to return (again and again)
our every present generation
to the timeless memory
of our people.
It ever reminds
of the reality of our nationhood;
its duties and responsibilities,
its mission, vision, promise, and destiny.
And says to every Filipino heart,
"long may our remembrances serve us".
So when we Filipinos say -
"mabuhay"
it should mean
that we do love the Philippines
as citizens to each other,
and that we do understand this love
as truth in our hearts.
- selah -
When we invoke
our national salutation
- with substance -
this truth empowers us.
It must elicit in our hearts
a love that is not distant or abstract!
It must ever remind us
of everything real to our national hopes
as a nation distinct among nations;
that particular something
we can all meaningfully understand.
It must continuously rekindle
in each ourselves (again and again)
- as citizens to each other -
that sovereign kind of mutual ownership
proper to our national trust
and empower us with a love of Country
that reaches right down to the ground
of our national communities
enabling every Filipino
to freely bring the blessings of our peace
into the lives of the very least
of our brothers and sisters,
our littlest Filipinos.
- selah -
The life of every nation
is derived from its particular sense of unity
and this particular sense of unity
is derived from the strength of its peace.
Upon this peace
(and the abundance or the lack of it)
is established the order and the cohesion
of all its national communities.
A nation's life - therefore,
is measured by the quality
of the sum of all the relationships
dwelling forever within itself.
- selah -
Mabuhay
is meant to recall us
to a memory of all of these relationships
in particular with the poor and needy in our midst
not to remind us of what we lack
but to return us to what we all must be - together this time -
to the one labor that our nation is purposed for by God,
the one trust that binds together all our generations,
and that constant remembrance of the peace
that must forever and ever live
- in each of us -
as citizens, one to another,
- equally engaged -
in our one Republic undertaking of Country -
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---<--@
(original produced 20110821)
to invoke into our collective memory
the reality of something good.
Evil
being devoid of that excellence
we tend in spirit to honor and admire
is not something we commonly salute
as human beings - and so -
as human nations together
we do not openly invoke evil
in our salutations.
(Therefore,
we may safely exclude
from this particular reflection
anything else but the good in things.)
(The National Salutation)
"Mabuhay"
is the salutation
associated with the Philippines.
(As such,
it is quite familiar
to all of us Filipinos
and even to other nations.)
It is not a salutation of individuals.
- selah -
Therefore,
it can never be
something meant to refer to
(1) any single individual - or -
(2) anything about the life of any single individual - or -
(3) anything about his or her personal virtues
no matter how excellent.
So what does it mean
when we Filipinos say "mabuhay"?
And
when we Filipinos do say "mabuhay"
what for or to whom in particular
do we tend to - consciously -
as well as - unconsciously -
address this to?
Mabuhay
simply means "to bring to life".
It is a salutation
that invokes "life" or the quality of it.
Now,
the life of any nation
is the product of the quality
of the communities that exists
wholly within itself.
It is therefore,
a measure of the sum
of all its relationships,
vertical and then horizontal.
(This sum
is always positive
no matter how deteriorated
any nation becomes.
For
there are no last peoples
only disappeared cultures.
Indeed,
there will always be
- remnant nations -
for as long as there are
nations upon our world.
Because
just as there are no such things
as false hopes, only real ones;
there are no such things
as false relationships,
only real ones.)
Now,
the quality
of these relationships
within the nation
is a product of
the quality
of the national remembrance.
For it is remembrance
that dictates the quality
of the national peace.
- selah -
My brother and sister Filipinos -
Mabuhay - is -
the salutation of our nation
in its entirely - and so -
must refer to the quality of the life
of the nationhood in each ourselves
- as well as -
the completeness of the sacred remembrances
we must together keep through all our generations
as a nation upon this earth.
It intends
to specifically invoke
- in the one Filipino heart -
a memory of itself.
It is a salutation
addressed directly and simultaneously
to all Filipinos from everywhere
and from every time
and is meant to return (again and again)
our every present generation
to the timeless memory
of our people.
It ever reminds
of the reality of our nationhood;
its duties and responsibilities,
its mission, vision, promise, and destiny.
And says to every Filipino heart,
"long may our remembrances serve us".
So when we Filipinos say -
"mabuhay"
it should mean
that we do love the Philippines
as citizens to each other,
and that we do understand this love
as truth in our hearts.
- selah -
When we invoke
our national salutation
- with substance -
this truth empowers us.
It must elicit in our hearts
a love that is not distant or abstract!
It must ever remind us
of everything real to our national hopes
as a nation distinct among nations;
that particular something
we can all meaningfully understand.
It must continuously rekindle
in each ourselves (again and again)
- as citizens to each other -
that sovereign kind of mutual ownership
proper to our national trust
and empower us with a love of Country
that reaches right down to the ground
of our national communities
enabling every Filipino
to freely bring the blessings of our peace
into the lives of the very least
of our brothers and sisters,
our littlest Filipinos.
- selah -
The life of every nation
is derived from its particular sense of unity
and this particular sense of unity
is derived from the strength of its peace.
Upon this peace
(and the abundance or the lack of it)
is established the order and the cohesion
of all its national communities.
A nation's life - therefore,
is measured by the quality
of the sum of all the relationships
dwelling forever within itself.
- selah -
Mabuhay
is meant to recall us
to a memory of all of these relationships
in particular with the poor and needy in our midst
not to remind us of what we lack
but to return us to what we all must be - together this time -
to the one labor that our nation is purposed for by God,
the one trust that binds together all our generations,
and that constant remembrance of the peace
that must forever and ever live
- in each of us -
as citizens, one to another,
- equally engaged -
in our one Republic undertaking of Country -
---<--@
(original produced 20110821)