SIA, Allan Ignacio III L.

12044261
GELITPH - Y26
Short Critical Essay #2

Through the discussions, various concepts and ideas were brought up through
the readings by Anderson, and Patterson. Anderson focused on how nations could be
looked at as a community. Every nation must be looked at as a sovereign community
because it focuses on how each one is connected through our blood, ethnicity, and
race. With our country, our Filipinoness is strong and often, we are proud of our own
blood. Every achievement, positive impact, or even just a small thing, Filipinos are
always there to congratulate, raise our flag, and be proud of being a Filipino. Our
camaraderie amongst Filipinos is very much there but I think our understanding of us as
a nation is still blurred especially in this age of migration and globalization. I believe that
we still are not as united as we believe to be because of our differences in beliefs and
understanding in different things. What I have observed is that our generation now is
very different from the generations before us. We’ve become more sensitive and aware
of the issues that exist within our society and are willing to call out those who are
accountable. We have been more involved with improving the quality of life and calling
out the government for action that would improve our situation. I believe that in the
future, we would be able to be more united because a large number of people believe in
the same thing and have similarities on how we are as a nation. Philippine Literature
would further help with progress using ideas that are well-suited in this day and age and
interdisciplinary.

I think one factor that contributes to how we look at ourselves as a nation, and
having a national identity is the diversity amongst cultures, and people. I believe that
there are pros and cons to this diversity but I think that it is more beneficial to us in
having a solid mindset of what we are as a nation. One big pro that could also be a con
is that we are exposed to different people and cultures. We would be able to pick up
certain concepts and ideas that we could incorporate into our existing concepts and
ideas to have a more solid and a better understanding with who we are as a Filipino. I
think it would be better for us to still have our Filipino identity and our ideals, but have
influences from other cultures. But, a con from having so many different cultures and
influences is that we may forget our Filipino identity and lose our nationhood and be
more of another culture or concept. I’ve observed that we have the tendency to find
validation as a nation to other countries. I do agree that it feels like we are not as
respected as other countries but I think that it’s because we lean on and depend on
other countries a bit much. It is why there are a lot of Filipinos who choose to migrate
because they would be able to have a better life in another country.