Why bank on the past?
Is there anything good about the past? What benefits one could get from those
unrepeatable past? These are questions that hound us today. For many who showed
such uncommon interests and dedications about the past, others cannot comprehend
the relevance of the past in relation to the present.
Historians are considered by many as beguiled whiners, and most promoters of history were usually honored posthumously, as in the case of the Bisayan singer Yoyoy Villame, whose song entitled Philippine Geography, Yoyoy was given his long overdue appreciation and recognition after his death by different sectors for his priceless contribution to our rich Filipino arts and culture. Historians seem irrelevant for this postmodern culture that we have nowadays. The quest for money, for fame, and for that laurel wreath of success, these mundane elements most sought-after by many if not all has caused us to forget the past. One American orator cautioned the aspiring millionaires of his metropolis, he poignantly stated: “After a man has acquired ten million, he must accept, with each additional million, at least one gall-stone”
Why bother about the past? Why study history? Or why write about history? Many statesmen have called upon their citizens, repeating the rhetorical lines: “Let us not forget the lessons of history.” And yet, we, Filipinos have remained forgetful and so we repeated our mass revolts, the one that we did in 1986 that toppled the late strongman Ferdinand E. Marcos from his 20 years of dictatorial regime and again we opted for another popular uprising in 2001 to get rid of Erap. What’s wrong with us? We do away with the Marcos in 1986 People’s Power but we had unwisely elected an actor turned politician to become our president in 1998 and sadly we had ousted him through another People's Power backed by the Makati business tycoons just half way through his term of office. Are we seriously studying our history? Because so many times we forget the past, and we just resigned to ourselves by claiming the lines, “history repeats itself.”
During bible days,
the children of Israel had been exiled to a foreign land called Babylon which was ruled then by
Nebuchadnezzar; there were two prophets during those dark days that had served as the Israelites’
historians. The historians had reminded the people of their past rich heritage as a nation in
the promised land with abundance of flowing milk and honey. Prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah had served the exiled children
of Israel by bringing to their remembrance their past glorious days under their
great military leaders such as King David and King Solomon. During the diaspora,
the two prophets had become the historians that gave hope for newness to the
exiled children of Israel and reminded them of the past glorious nation that they
once had, a nation abundantly blessed by Jehovah, the God of Israel.
Who are the exiles of today? What about the diaspora of many OFWs in faraway lands? Are they not our contemporary exiles? Metaphorically, these OFWs are exiles to foreign lands. They could be considered as refugees, seeking asylum in foreign lands for pure economic reason. Our nation’s current economic difficulties have driven away many of our countrymen as OFWs, as exiles to strange lands with equally strange cultures and inhabitants. There are untold numbers of fathers and mothers that have joined in this phenomenal diaspora, which is so alarming and disquieting to imagine, and taking place in our nation these days.
Literally, our overseas workers are seeking economic asylum because their expertise and knowledge are direly needed by the host- developed countries and a decent pay is also a welcome benefit which in fact our fatherland could impossibly match. Many families have sadly become fatherless because of the need to earn much for the children’s future. And others too have become motherless. Back home, many children are unknowingly growing, and are prematurely being weaned from the warm embrace of their indomitable mothers. And the children have become defenseless and vulnerables to the many unsolved evils of society.
We beat our bosoms for
all these unwanted pain. We have to mourn for this aching reality that befell on
many of our families nowadays. All of us have to feel the pain. All of us have to understand the loneliness that these children are going through.
The absentee fathers and mothers are now exiled to new lands where they sought economic refuge. Unknown pain, indescribable emptiness, and choking heaviness were born by many of these nameless parents, added to these is the unbearable orphanage that many children have suffered while being left behind under the care of relatives and guardians. How much money could compensate all these unwanted sunderings? If only money can truly provide the needed balm to all these human sufferings. Could these orphaned children bore the pain long enough?
We need to remember the fatherland. We have to draw water from the wellspring memory of the past. We have to remember the past in order to find hope for newness. One soldier of the Union Army during the American Civil War was caught and imprisoned by the Confederate Army at the Andersonville prison camp, and the dying soldier after observing the daily deaths of his fellow prisoners inside the camp and for various causes-starvation, diseases, untreated wounds contaminated with poisonous gun powders, and the soldier’s chance of living was getting slimmer each day. He had written this famous line in his diary: “Hope is a good medicine.” John L. Ransom survived the ordeal and his famous diary was published in 1881 entitled Andersonville Diary.
We have to hope for
newness. Our nameless fathers and mothers who braved through this inevitable
separation from their families must draw hope from the wellspring memory of
the past. We have to hope that someday, we will be reunited with our families,
with our children, with our love ones and we will all be fed and clothed like those citizens of
foreign lands that they have worked for. We have to remember the past, our
cemented bonds with our children. We have to remember the past; our childhood
days when we had enjoyed unequal care from both mothers and fathers without
the fear of being abandoned. We must draw hope from those past memories in
order to dream for newness for the future of this peculiar community we called
home.
We have to hope that someday our countrymen will not leave the fatherland and their families just to earn money in foreign lands, and live there as exiles in order to provide for their children’s needs and futures. Someday, tomorrow will be brighter than today, we need to hope for this. The great Apostle to the Gentiles had once written: “For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.” NIV(Romans 8:24-25)
Hope is still a good medicine! Gloc 9's song could be a knife-cutting-truth that criticizes this nagging reality of common Filipino families nowadays. I am trying to absorb its throat - choking message .