4 posts tagged “high school hw”

Paano ko ba maisusulong ang nasyonalismo bilang isang mag-aaral ng MCHS?

Bago ko masagot ang tanong na 'yan, kailang ko munang sagutin ang tanong na ito. Anu-ano ba ang kailangan gawin para maisulong ang nasyonalismo? Siguro pagkakaroon ng pagmamahal sa bansa at pagiging tapat dito ang kailangan.

Buong pusong pag-aawit ng "Lupang Hinirang" at pag-memorya't pag-bigkas ng "Panatang Makabayan" ay magpapakita na mahal mo ang iyong bansa. Kung hindi ka kuntento dito ay magagawa mo ring bumili ng produktong sariling atin, ipagmalaki ang sariling bansa, gamitin ang sariling wika o bumisita sa sariling bansa. Hindi mo naman kailangang magpaka-Rizal para masabi mo sa sarili na mahal mo ang iyong bansa. Simple lang ito. Kahit sinong tao ay magagawa ito.

Ang pagiging tapat sa bansa ay pwedeng gawin sa pamamagitan ng hindi pagtakwil dito. Pagsisilbi sa sariling mong bansa ay ang maaari mong gawin para matupad ito. Isa pang pwedeng gawin ay ipagtanggol ang sariling bansa sa panahon ng digmaan o kaya ay pagtulong sa kapwa-Pilipinong mga nasugatan habang nakikipagdigmaan.

Gagawin ko ang ilan sa mga sinabi ko. Hindi ko naman kailangan makilahok sa mga digmaan pero pwede naman akong magtrabaho dito kapag ako ay nakapagtapos sa pag-aaral ko.

Sapagkat ako ay estudyante lamang, hindi ko magagawa ang lahat-lahat ng sinabi ko. Ang magagawa ko lang ay gawin ito palagi at kasabay nito ay maging matapat sa paggagawa ng mga ito. Hindi ako makikipag plastikan para lang maipahalata na isinusulong ko ang nasyonalismo. Ang magagawa ko pa ay gawin ito ng buong puso. Hindi yung dahil lang kailangan ito ay gagawin ko ito para hindi ako mapagalitan. Gagawin ko ito dahil mahal ko ang bansa ko.

Much has changed in today's society as compared to the society 10 years ago. Ten years ago, there were no cellular phones, advanced computers, playstation or the Internet. However, some things never seem to fade such as fashion and trends. Every year, something new will be fashionable and others will be out of the trend. Take for example, a few years ago, baggy pants and loose shirts were in. As compared to now, when clothes are considered nice if they show off extra skin.

Beauty had been the most advertised topic in magazines... even several decades ago. However, the concept of beauty does change from time to time. Two decades ago, for a woman to be considered beautiful, she should have big, puffy and straight hair, fair skin and big looking shoulders. Nowadays, however, to be beautiful, a woman must have straight, black hair, slim body, fair complexion and big breasts.

In media advertisements, the typical definition of beauty is only skin-deep. A beautiful woman would usually posses most, if not all, of the aforementioned traits. As mentioned above, a woman must have or be: slim-having the ideal weight of at least 100 pounds; fair complexion comparing to that of an American's; straight black hair-typically the rebonded type of hair; and must be young-women at the age of late twenties are considered old by the society. Moreover, they should have a healthy lifestyle with a balanced diet-a lifestyle, which would keep a woman slim and fit. Though, many advertisements do promote easier ways to achieve the ideal weight by the fashion conscious.

Given such description, and looking back at reality, I must say that very little, if any, of my friends fit into this category. Some may have one or two of the ideal characteristics but none of them posses all of the ideal traits. And, if I were to use media's concept as a standard, it would be only right for me to say that none of my friends can ever be considered beautiful. That is, unless they do artificial treatments to achieve the standards of an ideally beautiful person.

However, it is not unlikely for some of my friends to adhere to such standards since media has a great influence over society. Media is a powerful tool of conveying messages to a large scale of people. A person watching television is exposed to many advertisements, which promises the betterment of a person's individuality. Media advertisements can tell audiences that following a certain trend can boost a person's morale and status in society. It can promise confidence, which most of the people in our society lack. Therefore, an advertisement claiming that the woman being showcased is an ideally beautiful person can provoke people to follow the trend and try to imitate the seemingly beautiful woman.

However, in reality, beauty is not skin-deep unlike what media is claiming. Media says that beautiful can be achieved with a dash of make-up here and there, an addition of a few jewelries and a designer's trademark on a woman's outfit. Media claims that beauty can be bought at designer-labeled stores and malls. Hence, this is what reaches the general audience; this is what people start to believe. And, though, there are advertisements which campaigns that beauty can be achieved with a pure heart and acts of kindness, these have not been enough to dispel the old and firm belief about real beauty, as asserted by media advertisements.

It is notable though, that there are different definitions for beauty in different places. In Japan, geishas are considered beautiful by their society. Hence, the ideal characteristics of a beautiful person do not necessarily apply to all societies. It applies to those countries, which were greatly influenced by the American culture like the Philippines; it applies to countries whose citizens are greatly affected by the colonial mentality.

Moreover, beauty can also differ from the young age group to the old age group. Although, there are similarities in each age group's standards of beauty, it will never be exactly alike since young and old people view things differently. For example, young girls consider having straight hair and wearing tight clothes as beautiful. Women, on the other hand, consider having straight hair and wearing less revealing clothes as beautiful.

In "Shape" magazine, advertisements such as Avia, JC Penny Salon and Jergens all show women who have blemish-free, fair complexioned skin, straight and smooth hair, and a body with curves and without excess fat on them. Likewise, "Essence" magazine showcases similar women. The only difference is that "Essence" is a magazine for women with dark complexion. Hence, all women in the magazine are women of dark complexion.

Beauty, as portrayed by the Media, is not always the ideal standard, which women should follow. It is not skin-deep. Real Beauty is found deep within a person. A person of beauty is one who shows acts of kindness and love, and has a pure heart. A beautiful person is not judged by her outer features and the clothes she wears but by the purity of her heart.

The Philippines, since the colonization by the Americans, Spaniards and Japanese, has become very dependent. Yes, we do have our own cultures, customs and traditions but we don't have our own rational minds. Like babies, we cling on to our parents fearing they might leave us alone; we can't support ourselves. Likewise, we fear that the Americans might abandon us. Therefore, we follow their every command or will.

Being dependent, I have to admit has its advantages. Though, they are most of the time short-lived. On the contrary, this causes the increase of mediocre people in our country. We also lose the ability to decide for ourselves. These disadvantages, on the other hand, will surely live on until the generation of our grandchildren's grandchildren.

Clinging to our older brothers only gives us nothing. It only makes our country worse. In turn, some of the Filipinos leave the country just to escape all the problems we've been having.

We can still change the current status of our country. Then again, with the things the other countries give us, it is indeed hard to let go. But we must try, must we not? We must have dignity and pride for our country. We have a lot of things we could be proud of. Nevertheless, if we continue being too dependent on other countries, we lose the only things, which make us Filipino. We lose our cultures, customs, traditions... everything.

Our country must be independent once more. We must be someone quite similar, if not the same, as Jose Rizal, Andres Bonifacio and Emilio Aguinaldo who gave their very own lives just for our country's independence. We must learn to let go; stand on our own feet. We must break away from the other countries. In doing so, we learn to be independent; we retain our cultures, customs and traditions; we attain the development that we’ve been striving hard for; and most of all, we continue to be true Filipinos.

Poverty is one of the most serious and unsolved problems here in our country. Hunger and death are some of its dire consequences. The crisis has been with us since we became an independent country in 1946. Yet, until now, we have not formulated a solution to our problem on poverty, thus, hindering us from attaining total human development.

The best readily achievable solution is to stop its main cause, corruption, at all levels of our society.

Corruption results in inefficiencies in the delivery of basic government projects. The cost of infrastructure projects soar multiple times more than their actual value. We often hear our government officials complain of budget deficits coupled with their proposals to increase the burden of taxation on us who are already suffering extreme poverty. How does the government lose funds? Each one of us know the answer too well…some of our government officials divert public funds to their private pockets. Corruption results in a vicious cycle of increased government borrowings from local and foreign sources which can only be repaid by continuously incurring additional loans. Today, our country has incurred enough external and internal loans that even our great grandchildren would continue to pay for years to come.

We are in a fiscal crisis because of corruption. While the corrupt live extravagant lifestyles, many of us struggle to survive on a daily basis. It might not even be far off when living and breathing would be a burden to our pockets.

Since almost everything is taxed, many people suffer. Poor people become poorer with each passing minute; and the middle income people are striving just to maintain their moderate lifestyles. Poverty breeds a society of thieves, murderers, and other social deviants spawned by the necessities of daily living. With this, poverty only becomes worse; the poverty line only grew bigger. There are also other social consequences to the long term problem of poverty.

There are social issues on health that cannot be addressed because of budgetary constraints. Health problems, whether serious or not, are becoming prevalent. These issues continue from the family tree of problems that corruption has started.

Because of poverty and high prices, working hard nowadays is simply not enough. Like doctors who studied eight or so years of college and spent thousands of pesos just to earn a medical degree yet are now working abroad as nurses! More and more people are leaving our county to become nurses since they are assured of a good future in other countries. With more doctors leaving and less nurses applying for jobs here in our country, who would take care of the sick people now?

Our country is already in a deplorable state. And worse, it continues to stay that way. A lot of mistakes have been made and for most people, only a miracle could take them away from their misery. What could be worse than this? Probably, nothing that anyone could imagine. However, as the song goes, "There's a rainbow always after the rain." Nothing is impossible right? :)