Existing comment:
I am a Filipino.
In my blood runs the immortal seed of heroes–seed that flowered down the centuries in deeds of courage and defiance.
I am a Filipino, child of the marriage of the East and the West. I am of the East, an eager participant in its spirit, and in its struggles for liberation from the imperialist yoke. For I, too, am of the West, and the vigorous peoples of the West have destroyed forever the peace and quiet that once were ours.
For no man and no nation is an island, but a part of the main, there is no longer any East and West–only individuals and nations making those momentous choices which are the hinges upon which history resolves.
I have seen the light of justice and equality and freedom, my heart has been lifted by the vision of democracy, and I shall not rest until my land and my people shall have been blessed by these, beyond the power of any man or nation to subvert or destroy.
I am a Filipino born to freedom, and I shall not rest until freedom shall have been added unto my inheritance -- for myself and my children and my children's children -- - forever.
Excerpts from "I Am a Filipino," by Carlos P. Romulo (1898-1985), National Artist for Literature and former Philippine ambassador to the United States |