when did we start calling ourselves filipino anyway?
when humankind first stepped out, as for out of africa theory, what did they call themselves? when the proto-austronesians moved away from southern china what did they call themselves? as evidenced by the baybayin script practiced all over the pre-colonial philippines, and the close relationship of philippine languages from tagalog to waray to kankanay in terms of genealogy, it can be seen that we have descended from one ancestor.
lets expand. there are common beliefs among people from different areas of the world. for example, circumcision, formerly thought as a semitic practice, was also practiced among the people of pre-colonial south american tribes like the maya and the aztecs. the belief in the deluge, the afterlife, animal spirits, spirits of nature, rituals... in one way or the other, there are similarities in these belief sets from different cultures from different parts of the world.
this leads me to further believe that we, as a human specie, have emerged from one source. we have acquired beliefs and knowledge from that one past. but yes, life does not exist in a vacuum, and the more we grow in terms of knowledge, science and technology, religion -- separation more and more becomes inevitable. as we hold on to different sets of ideals and values, the more we grow apart or move away or migrate from one jungle to another, from one city-state to another, from one ocean to another, from one continent to another. and after thousands of years-- or perhaps millions of these fissions, we are now who we are-- a specie with differences sometimes so great that the similarities are almost indiscernable.
who said we are filipinos, we DECIDED to call ourselves that at one point of our history. who decided to call ourselves Tagalogs or Visayans or Cebuano? Some may argue that these names are decided on by those in power, and the small ones remain voiceless in the making of history. Though profoundly, this is truth, it remains that we never lose our capacity to choose. we always choose what to accept or resist. even indifference is a choice we make. so in a deeper sense, whatever we have or not have in our hands, is our own making as a people, as a social organism, as one body with different members.
we are sons and daughters of our history. history being the progression of consequences and the how we see or understand it. history is a people's perception of the truth. we are therefore not only children of our consequences, but also children of the choices, choices being the judgements we believe as truth, we made as a people.
when humankind first stepped out, as for out of africa theory, what did they call themselves? when the proto-austronesians moved away from southern china what did they call themselves? as evidenced by the baybayin script practiced all over the pre-colonial philippines, and the close relationship of philippine languages from tagalog to waray to kankanay in terms of genealogy, it can be seen that we have descended from one ancestor.
lets expand. there are common beliefs among people from different areas of the world. for example, circumcision, formerly thought as a semitic practice, was also practiced among the people of pre-colonial south american tribes like the maya and the aztecs. the belief in the deluge, the afterlife, animal spirits, spirits of nature, rituals... in one way or the other, there are similarities in these belief sets from different cultures from different parts of the world.
this leads me to further believe that we, as a human specie, have emerged from one source. we have acquired beliefs and knowledge from that one past. but yes, life does not exist in a vacuum, and the more we grow in terms of knowledge, science and technology, religion -- separation more and more becomes inevitable. as we hold on to different sets of ideals and values, the more we grow apart or move away or migrate from one jungle to another, from one city-state to another, from one ocean to another, from one continent to another. and after thousands of years-- or perhaps millions of these fissions, we are now who we are-- a specie with differences sometimes so great that the similarities are almost indiscernable.
who said we are filipinos, we DECIDED to call ourselves that at one point of our history. who decided to call ourselves Tagalogs or Visayans or Cebuano? Some may argue that these names are decided on by those in power, and the small ones remain voiceless in the making of history. Though profoundly, this is truth, it remains that we never lose our capacity to choose. we always choose what to accept or resist. even indifference is a choice we make. so in a deeper sense, whatever we have or not have in our hands, is our own making as a people, as a social organism, as one body with different members.
we are sons and daughters of our history. history being the progression of consequences and the how we see or understand it. history is a people's perception of the truth. we are therefore not only children of our consequences, but also children of the choices, choices being the judgements we believe as truth, we made as a people.