User:Analie Deparine/sandbox

(August 19, 1938. President Quezon's famous speech on "Spiritual Regeneration of the Filipino," at the Rizal Memorial Stadium, Manila:)

...The Filipino of today is soft, easy-going. His tendency is towards parasitism. He is uninclined to sustained strenuous effort! He lacks earnestness. Face-saving is the dominant note in the confused symphony of his existence. His sense of righteousness is often dulled by the desire of personal gain. His norm of conduct is generally prompted by expediency rather than by principle. He shows a failing in that superb courage which impels action because it is right, even at the cost of self-sacrifice. His greatest fear is not to do wrong, but of being caught doing wrong. He is frivolous in his view of life. His conception of virtue is many times conventional. He takes his religion lightly. He thinks that lip-service and profession are equivalent to deep and abiding faith. He is inconstant; he lacks perseverance; the first obstacles baffle him, and he easily admits defeat. The patriotism of many Filipinos of today is skin-deep, incapable of inspiring heroic deeds. There are those who are apt to compromise with ethical principles and to regard truth as not incompatible with misrepresentation or self-deceit.

Among us social decorum is fast becoming prostituted by a mistaken conception of modernity. This is particularly true among the young. A wrong adaptation of foreign customs creates in them a feeling that politeness is commonplace and that smartness and insolence are the equivalent of good breeding. They do not realize that civility is the consummate flower of culture and civilization, for it embraces all the virtues and in turn sustains and enhances them all.

Self-restraint is not an active power in us. Those who are high-strung and emotional seldom utilize this great source of energy for the attainment of desirable objectives. Our nerves snap into a frazzle when confronted with danger or seemingly insurmountable difficulties. We abhor discipline, either moral or physical, forgetting that self-discipline is the most effective process to build fortitude of body and spirit.

Socially, we are inefficient. We are loathe to accept our social responsibilities. We look upon our Government as the fountain source of living, to which we are reluctant to give anything, but from which we expect every bounty and help. We work slowly and scantily. We are afraid to exert ourselves in toil. We prefer a life of ease and take pride in it, not knowing that there is dignity only in work. We feel no compunction in living on the labor of others. This is singularly true of that numerous group of small land-owners who are content with the meager income from the rent of their land, instead of working it themselves, and from their own sweat gain greater profits. These are the people who constitute our middle class who should be the back-bone of the body politic. They are a liability in our social structure. Their idleness is a drag upon the economic and social advancement of our country, too heavy for any people to carry. They form a stagnant pool which breeds anemia into the blood streams of the body politic and will cause its certain death unless they awake to their responsibilities and realize their ignoble existence.

This appraisal of the character of our people today may sound too severe. You will realize that I would be happier if I could only shower praise upon my countrymen. But my responsibility as head of this Nation compels me to face and state facts, however disagreeable they may be to me or to our people, for it is only thus that we can remedy existing evils that threaten to destroy the vitality and vigor of the race...

... I want our people to grow and be like the molave, strong and resilient, rising on the hillside, unafraid of the raging flood, the lightning or the storm, confident of sits own strength. If we have the will to survive and the will to achieve social efficiency, we can not delay this task of spiritual regeneration. Let us begin to mold the typical Filipino...

...We have attained our freedom, but our spirit is still bound by the shackles forged from the frailties of our nature. We owe it to ourselves and our posterity to strike them down.

We are Orientals. We are known for our placidity and passivity. In the world of humanity we are looked upon as a quiet and smooth lake from which the adventurous and enterprising may reap enjoyment and gain. I refuse to allow the Filipino to be so regarded. We shall be a flowing stream, a rippling brook, a deep and roaring torrent, full of life, of hope, of faith, and of strength. Through self-discipline we shall harness all our energies, so that our power, spreading over the length and breath of this Land will develop its resources, advance its culture, secure social justice, give puissance to the Nation, and insure happiness and contentment for all the people, under the ægis of liberty and peace.

Other peoples of the world are straining themselves to attain higher levels of progress and national security. We shall not lag behind.

The Filipino people are on the march, towards their destiny, to conquer their place in the sun!