Nationalism has kept us from being total slaves of Spaniards, a colony of Japan, and a state of the USA. But, has it been enough to keep them away for good? I don't think so.
Though it may not be very evident in the books we have today, the Filipinos' nationalism was what kept those colonizers away. At the same time, it was nationalism that gave us "hell". People talk about the Filipinos escaping the so-called hell like it has already happened--like we have achieved freedom. It might seem this way, but the truth is, we are still struggling to free ourselves from the strong grip that the US has on the Philippines. And truth be told then and again, if we truly have a sense of nationalism in us, we should choose to go through hell in the process of trying to successfully preserve the country together as Filipinos, as what President Quezon said, rather than go through a pretentious heaven filled only with temporary bliss under the American rule. We have fought for decades... why in the world should we stop now? Stopping would only mean that we didn't instill in us any sense of nationalism at all.
Now, we all know that Rizal wanted the Philippines to be a part of Spain. This act caused him to be branded as a lukewarm revolutionary. But it doesn't matter now whether or not he was a lukewarm revolutionary, does it? What matters is the myriad of ideas that he had shared then, which caused to stir a revolution. His ideas have awakened the sense of nationalism in the Filipinos then. His ideas, which completely made a lot of sense, are still in us somewhere. The question that we should ask ourselves now, and whose answer matters as well, is if we use those ideas to attain total and genuine freedom--to not be a dependent society on other countries anymore.
What pushed the revolutionaries then to have almost attained freedom was the fact that they had had enough of being dictated. They have realized that the Filipinos aren't supposed to be bound to the approval of other people from different nations. The Americans, Spaniards, and Japanese were in our territory before. They should have been the ones subject to our rules and laws. But since some of us were probably fooled by their bright and brilliant ideas, they were able to take advantage of our ignorance. Thus, we were oppressed. Fortunately, there were those who were quick enough to realize that we have been deceived. And yes, there was a sudden outburst of nationalism.
But the question now is, when will the Filipinos today stand up against the current problems our country is facing? When will the majority see that we are not totally free? For if we have attained our so-called independence, why do we still depend on other nations to help us? Why do we still loan money from the World Bank when we don't have to? Why do we still pay the debts of our previous corrupt leaders when we didn't even receive a single cent from them?
More importantly, though, we are becoming slaves of our current government. Perhaps if they had even a little sense of nationalism, those crocodiles and pork-eaters in power would see the true state of the Filipino people. They would break free from their hypnotized states and finally act for the common good.
Showing one's nationalism doesn't only mean being able to bring the country to attain high percentages of economic stability, or to settle for peace in exchange of being a state of another country. It is about caring for the nation and the people in it, doing something to help them, and doing more than enough for the country to finally become a independent and stable nation.