Speech of Manuel L Quezon

Answer 1

Let Us Be True To Ourselves

Manuel L. Quezon

The Filipino is not inferior to any other man or any other race. His physical intellectual, and moral qualities are as excellent as those of the proudest stock of mankind. But some of these qualities have become dormant in recent years. If we compare our individual and civic traits with those that adorned our forefathers, we that we, the Filipinos of today, have lost much of the moral strength and power for growth of our ancestors. They were strong-willed, earnest, adventurous people. They had the courage to be pioneers, to brave the seas, clear the forests and erect towns and cities upon the wilderness. They led a life of toil and comservice. Each one considered himself an active part of the body politic.

But these traditions are either lost or forgotten. They exist only as a hazy mist in our distant past. We must revive them, for we need the anchorage of these traditions to guide and sustain us in the proper discharge of our political and social obligations.

Let us be realists. And let us above all be true to ourselves. The stakes are too high -our liberties, these very liberties for which the Filipinos of yesterday fought and , our happiness, and our very existence as a nation and as a race. We can not afford to suppress truth or to extenuate our shortcomings. Let us chase away pretense futile pride. Let us look at ourselves stripped of the veil and trappings with which, in our vanity, we often cover ourselves. That we are all capable of doing detecting the weakness from which we suffer in vindication enough of the excellence of our race.