Honoring the National Heroes

Title

Creator

Cowen, Myron M.

Language

English

Year

1950

Subject

National Heroes’ Day.

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Fulltext

._November, 1950 · nm MANILA GUARDIAN P.agej Honoring The ·National Heroes By M~ M. Cowen ~ he Am<lrican:people unite with all other freedom-lov-men Slid wom~n, Filipinos and ,Amerii:ans alike and others . ing peoples of the world today in paying high tribute who met a similar fate on the death march, at Cdillp O'Don, to the countless men and women of the· Pl:iilippines,· nell, at Cabanatuan, at Palawan and at the1 Davao prisonei;s !hO, have sacrificed their ,lives in 1the supreinely important camp; use of creating and ,defending .liberw, freedom and the de- . Today, as we depart from our daily routine to comm.,. ocratic way of life. morate the .deeds of the;:;e honored dea.d, it seei11s a fitting 1 Rizal,. Mabini, Bonif8.cio, Abad Santos, Quezon - these time to rededicate ourselves to t~e principles for which .iliey imn)ortal leaders. of the Flilipino people and others who w~re died. Both o'ur peoples, who haye ·fought and died for free-' 41s.sociated with them or -who followed in their footsteps -.,.... dom, must keep ever in wind that "eternal vigilance is the $tand out .today ·as landmarks in the onward and upward ·price _of liberty." If, in what ·we do or what we fail to do, aS mitrch of this sovereign democratic Republic. ·eecause these· individua~s. or as organizations, we are false to the basic con• kreat men lived, labOred and died as · they did, thi_s __ nation cept of govei:nment which Filipinos and Americans share ~ today stands on the threshold of greatness. They are, in the that it is a servant pf the people, not their master - to the tntest sehse of the word "natiortal heroes," from Whose exam- same extent are we destroying this way ·of life whi!h we pie yoilr n8tion and the whole world may well draw inspi:z'a- value above _all ~thers. tion _and courage with which tt;> mee_t the challenging pro- We ha~e come t~ speak of the personal liberty and the hlf.ms of the future. dignity 'of the intlividu.tl, ·which are the basis of democraqr, In recent times the significance- of this day has been as the righ'tS' of man. They are his rights in a free land._ ~-broadened and deepened~ to include the sacrifices made by ·In fact, we and our forbears have come to feel that they .,hP. Filipino people as a whole. during those four tragic years are fris .inalienable rights, an endo~ent from his Creator. of World War II - saci:Jfices ".Y"hich today Constitute as We know all too well, however, that there are -inillions of great a monument to idealism, patriotism and sell-sacrifice people in the wofld ·tQday who enjoy no such ri~hts. Tota_]. as has ever been erected in all history. itaria~ism recogni~es no right ht.it that of might. In tl:at . As I. say this I am not thinlcing of individual deedsi by large portion of the world where a totalitarian form of gov-. specific people but, rather, of the·· heroism of the whole· nation ernm.ent exists, the individual does not dare fo express his which stood fast in ihe face of _the weapons. of death and dts- own opinion. In. such co~mtries, Where m~n's ·ininds are .ritiuction, both physical and ideologic8l, which ,were used against gidly controll~, the individual is subjecte~ to a slavery __ mor(l it by the enemy. Your people suffered brutal indignities, abject than any the world has ever known. Starved f1"9m lack of food, saw their frien'ds and relatives dle Your .:People ·and mine, 8s freedom-loving peoples,. mu9! before their eyes, and yet struggled on for an ideal and_ a not stand idly by. Nor shoul4 our t8ctics in thls · •truggl~( . p_rinciple. No words of ourS can add to the glory they have af ideas be me~ely those of passive resistaJlce. · If democracY: ~ _. ~cJrieved. The world i'!. general and ·the Philippines in par- if a government of the people, by th~ people, and lor the' pOQ-. fticular. do well today to pay hpnor to these thousands of men ple - is a~ J>JeCiOUs ~ heritage as our founders·. (:Ons1dere°d pd women W}lo by their heroic fortitude established a stan- it and a's we, today, Dre convinced: that it is,· it behooves us_ to -· ,. dard by which all human Courage and sacrifice" can be mea- make it a ~al and living ihing. Jt is• imperative that t~e sured in the future. demoracies demonstrate to- the rest of the World mote ef~ More specifically, we are met here this morning to. pay fectively in the future th-m. they have in the past the innu· tribute to the scores of men and ·women who-suffered torture mei'able benefits which mankind enjoys· under self-govern· and death at the hands of _the Japanese in the cells and dark ment. It is only by making our governments democratic in dungeons of tlris historic old Fort. every sense of the,word, by assuring all men equal political, , Fort Santiago which has stoo4 here on the banks of social, economic and legal rights and privileges that we con the. Pasig River for .more than 400 years,- and under the Hags prove to our own people and to the world, at large the bene0~ _five nations, has witnes5ed the relentless mar.ch of· histOry. fits and blessings of our_ chosen way of life. It wa~ here that Jose Rizal was imprisoned prior to his execu- Let us today' re-dedicate ourselves to these high principles, lion· by the Spanish. It was here in these dark cells and tor- and by so doing, fittingly memorialize those heroes who have ~ture chambers that Fili_pinos and Americans alike-- shared .m. - died tO preserve them. No better offering could be made .in ~"llzdeal by fire in World War II. : grateful acknowledgement of our debt to them than to si.;ve ), ' I am honored indeed to be able to joU: with you today more diligently for the achievement. of the ideals fpr which ' in paying humble but grateful tribute to 1¥5 legion of heroic they sacrificed their lives. .

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