Ryan O.

Torres
BSC - 4102

1. Nationalism is an ideology based on the premise that an individual's loyalty and devotion
to one's country should come above the interests and opinions of other citizens or the interests
of a certain group of citizens. The pride of nationalism, however, trumpets its country's
virtues and denies its deficiencies. Nationalism is contemptuous toward the virtues of other
countries. It wants to be and proclaims itself to be "the greatest". Patriotism is an attachment
to a homeland. The love and adoration for the place where an individual is born, brought up,
and the nation that place belongs to. These attachments can be related to ethnic, cultural,
political or historical. Patriotism is also being proud of a country's virtues but with an
eagerness and readiness to correct its deficiencies to be better. Patriotism acknowledges the
patriotism of citizens of other countries and respects their virtues.

2. Nationalism is defined as the love for one’s country. It is our affection on the country we
belonged to, and this give us the idea that our country is better than any other. Our beliefs
about our country are really important to uphold the truth. Being proud of what country we
are from and the things that shows our nationality is what Nationalism all about. Nationalism
is about US vs THEM mentality. While Patriotism is the love that we feel on our country. In
patriotism we believe that our country is good and most especially the people living here. In
here, we represent our country by being a good example and having a rightful behavior. A
patriotic person supports the government and other advocacies that the government presented
to us. Not only that, we are to uphold principles and act good.

3. As a youth, it is a great opportunity to relive the history of our hometown. Through the
Heneral Luna show, I had the opportunity to bring back my thoughts and memories about the
love, care, and sacrifice shown by our heroes, war soldiers, leaders of the country, honest
politicians, and above all citizens who are willing to sacrifice their lives when we were
colonized by the colonizers several times. Colonizers who are willing to do anything to steal
the wealth of the Philippines, extend their teachings to our areas, and same in the customs and
practices. From then until now, two customs have been inherent to us as Filipinos. First is
honesty, honesty to the people around us, to someone we do not know, to God and above all
honesty to oneself. Acknowledgment will tell us which side we are on. Who should we
defend, to love and to fight for? During General Luna's war, he witnessed a lot of honesty.
Loyalty to the people, to the service, to the family, to the money, to the wealth and loyalty of
some of the Filipinos who believed in the sugarcoated words of the colonizers. Nothing were
easy in the lives of the Filipinos during the time of colonizers. Everyday chaos and killings
everywhere. Fear and trepidation surround the hearts of every citizen, especially women who
were really experienced abused from the colonizers. It was really a traumatized event for
them because of what they suffered from. Several times someone gave up and chose to
surrender and even Heneral Luna lost hope to the point he will commit suicide. With the help
of one of his Roman soldiers, his plan to killed himself were stopped. “Town or business?!!
Self or freedom?!” Luna said. He also told Hernando that he would rather die in war than
submit and live with colonizers. Those were some of the words that Luna uttered in the
middle of his leadership in the Philippine Armed Forces. According to President Emilio
Aguinaldo, Luna was the smartest of all the generals. Although there was a time that Luna
was doing wrong things because every Filipinos were losing their rights and if they do not
follow his orders, he will kill them and will not spare their lives. “Our greatest enemy is
ourselves” Gen. Antonio Luna said in one of the scenes. This is the most impactful line that
affected me. While watching the film, the thing I absolutely noticed is about how our
fellowmen react with the war for our freedom. Starting from the never ending disagreements
between the generals, down to the impassionate soldiers they have. We can’t even group
ourselves as one but we hope for a victory. The Americans laugh at our own foolish acts. In the
end, not only Gen. Luna was lost and was put in shame. But our whole country lost. The worst
part of it, we didn’t lose with the war but we lost within ourselves. That’s the main reason why
we lost and will continue to do so. We aim for a simple yet happy life, but we expect someone
to do it for us in the midst of another western invasion. However, Heneral Luna has a loyalty
to his duties. He is ready to give everything for the people, security and protection, be himself
and show that he is fighting for principles. The Americans find the Philippines shameful
because one of these Americans said that “You killed the only general you have.”, pertaining
to General Luna. Joven Hernando, the interviewer, leaves a remarking question saying that
why should Filipinos kill fellow Filipinos, it is also the same as killing the freedom of the
Philippines. Finally, he reminisce all the messages that General Luna taught him about how
Filipinos should fight for the country. The characteristics of Filipinos were being gullible and
easily deceived by colonizers. That's why we were easily colonized by the colonizers because
some Filipinos don't have the ability to understand what was going on right, to what was their
proper desires and the colonizer's intention on our country. The story was sad because it
really happened in our history. At the same time joyful because despite all those events, the
Philippines was permanently freed and gained independence. As for our heroes, law
enforcement officers, and fellow Filipinos, there is no enough gratitude for what they have
done for us. Their sacrifices and love for our country are truly amazing and extraordinary.
Heneral Luna was a film that not only entertains but also educates about the Filipino's fights
and sacrifices against imperial rule in our country. General Luna is a symbol of patriotism
and passionately fight for the liberation of our country from imperialism. Heneral Luna was
an enlightening glimpse into Filipino history and culture. By watching this film, you get to
learn about and understand Spanish and American influences in Filipino culture. From these
bad experiences that our heroes had been through, we can really say that they are real heroes
that will never be forgotten. They will remain in our hearts and forever be grateful for what
they did. Being colonized by other countries, I can really say that there are bad habits or
traditions that they brought us, but there are also good things that made our country really
good at something. The traditions, food, celebrations, construction and architecture,
transportation, and even in language which is the English and later on became our second
language. From these things we learn from it and because of our heroes we have such a good
country whom we will be proud of. There are boon and bane we get from this colonialism. It
will be instilled in our hearts and forever be remembered. Antonio Luna’s leadership against
Americans could have been successful without the other fellow Filipinos that were against his
plans or enforcements. Just like managing conflict and getting along with co-workers, Luna
and the others should have had the same interest or goal for the Philippines. We may say that
they really cooperate with each other just to gain freedom. In the movie, I believe there are
two sides to our selfishness as Filipinos. First off, we never put our family before ourselves,
thus we are not selfish. Second, when it comes to defending our nation, we are egotistical.
We are unaware that murdering our own Filipino brothers and sisters results in the
destruction of future hope. I also ponder why we must continually pick a fleeting, uncertain
safety above the long-lasting independence of our own nation. If I had to pick between “Sarili
and Bayan”. “Sarili” is my language of choice because, in order to contribute and be a decent
citizen in your nation, you must first show kindness and responsibility to oneself. You can
never be a worthy citizen of your country if you can't resist the temptation of evil. Nowadays,
it's uncommon to find people who would rather risk their life for the good of their country.
To think that some people would actually do that is uncommon and strange. It's difficult to
choose between your nation and your family, but it's much more difficult to sacrifice your
happiness for a satisfying, agonizing death.