By Sierramar T. Cordero
MANILA

Ipahintulot ninyong paminsan-minsan ay gamitin ko ang Ingles dito at baka naman kalawangin na ang kaalaman ko ng wikang banyagang itinuro ko rin naman ng mahigit na 13 taon. Salamat. Itâ??s been said a nationâ??s strength is its people; thus, our republicâ??s strength is us.

Citizens of the world by choice or circumstance some seven million of us we now are, found in every nook and cranny of what has become a global village seemingly made small by wondrous technology. We come from all walks of lifeâ??-seafarers, men and women of the cloth, educators, entertainers, caregivers, accountants, domestic helpers, taxi drivers, medical personnel, computer experts, other professionals... Have we added many a job description to a personnel officeâ??s lexicon!

Really, the list is long and covers all everywhere: in the tropics, the deserts, snowcapped cities, cosmopolitan areas, places of â??clear and present dangerâ?? and even those whose names prove to be tongue-twisters.

Believe it or not, wherever we go and/or find ourselves, it is still a piece of GODâ??s heaven. As we seek better lives elsewhere, endure alien climates, acquire different tongues, adjust ourselves to new ways of thinking and newer ways of doing, even as we battle extreme loneliness and steel ourselves against sheer prejudice, weâ??re not just eking out a living.

Weâ??re also trying to find, and having found, share, true wisdom as we offer our own voices, along with our skills, talent, determination, wit, and most of all, our genuine love and concern. Thus, we enrich any place not only with our much-vaunted linguistic flexibility and cultural adaptability but also with our caring manner, the FILIPINO spirit of LOVE. Such is reflected in our values of respect, pagkakaisa, pagtutulungan, pakikipagkapwa and not to forget, our sense of humor. Other peoples may not understand us because to some love is something alien, thus, they look at us askance, sometimes with fear or even with a feeling of being threatened because somehow deep inside them, perhaps they know how love may change them and the old order? At any rate, it is up to us to keep this spirit alive in our hearts and show the world the people we really are! If heroism is just being able to live in the present with a certain dexterity, a lightness of touch, then truly, many of us can claim to be heroes.

Thank you then, fellow toilers, for the years gone by, and thank you, too, for the years ahead. At the end of our journey (our pilgrimage kind of), we long to go back to our native land, to our Perlas ng Silanganan. Not all of us will be able to go back home, but wherever fate may take us, the realization that we are one republic, the memories of the nation and the people we left behind bind us to one another and inspire us to preserve our heritage and culture.

Such will make us build our own piece of GODâ??s land that weâ??ll call PILIPINAS! May we all continue to be a channel for what is good, mga kababayan. Deo Gratias! Mabuhay!