This is an open letter sent by one of the members of the Youth for Nationalism and Democracy-Cebu, who have now settled in California. He had stopped schooling in the hope to assist his father in the USA likewise to contribute in the Global arena in raising of the awareness of the impoverished people of the world and to the OFW's. From time to time, he has come back to the Philippines to share in the quest for truth and social justice and share the experiences he had encountered in the foreign land. Documentation and international solidarity work has been two of the arena he has been engaging.
He also had volunteered in the Centers based in the US advocating for the welafare of the precarious workers.
I would like to share this letter from him to you with his consent to hopefully reach more youth to become more socially aware. We hope that you too, will share this to others. Please feel free to communicate through this add or james' add.
--- On Wed, 6/11/08, james julian castillowrote:
From: james julian castilloSubject: Open letter to the Filipino youth:To: jamesdarapper@yahoo.comDate: Wednesday, June 11, 2008, 7:53 AM
Most Filipinos from the Philippines to the Filipinos and Filipino-Americans in California to New York have a perception that Philippines as a nation is hopeless. Their reason varies from corruption, to culture, to education. At a young age of twenty one, I can not accept this feeling of hopelessness. And I hope a lot of our youth today will share my sympathies. For if we accept this sense of hopelessness, we will be putting in vain the sweat and blood that were shed by people we see today in plazas, schools and establishments that have been frozen in time like Andres Bonifacio and Jose Rizal.
A lot of us youth will be going back to school and I would like to share my insights to all of you from my experiences in my high school and college days, to my work here in California and my brief visit to New York in the hope of giving you a broader perspective of the world we live in.
Back in high school ( University of San Jose-Recolletos ) and college ( Cebu Normal University ), I was sometimes misunderstood by my classmates and schoolmates for I was always asking questions and always reading something. Some of us youth like to fit in, but some just don’t seem to fit in with the cool dudes. I know we want to belong because until now I still want belong. We also want to understand a lot of things, but most of the time the right people and the materials that would have given us some explanation to our burning questions are out of reach for most of the Filipino youth.
Its very ironic that a lot of our parents and adults see (formal) education as important that is why they sacrifice a lot just so we can have a chance at having a better job but they don’t seem to understand that education is more that just being able to land on a job. Education is more than that. When we ask critical questions they tell us to shut up, even killing some of us to demonstrate their point. But then again, we hear them say how important (formal) education is.
I don’t blame the youth why most of us are not familiar with the real history of our nation. I blame the class in society that designed our educational system to make us ignorant about our real past. You may ask who that class is? Just remove those sunglasses and look around you. Look at the streets, look at your friends, look at your family, look at the school, the tv, radio, newspaper and internet, look at the government, look at our sea, our land, the trees, animals, the buildings and others you can see and sense around you. Which class in society benefits from how things are set up?
Why should we waste our time in trying to get that piece of paper that will say we stayed in school for a number of years and now we are qualified to work when the only work we get is a lousy minimum wage job that can’t even support you, let alone your family? Why waste time when the only option is a call center job where we have to pretend that we are somebody else?
I’m not saying don’t go to school. What I’m saying is, don’t just go to school to get a piece of paper. If you are one of our fortunate fellow youth that have access to formal education, use it to really understand what kind of problem we are facing. Use formal education to find a collective solution to a collective problem. Use it to see where we are going as a nation and what we can do, as the inheritors of this planet to create a better country, a world, a system where all of us have an opportunity to rise above and help ourselves live a decent and happy life. If we can make that happen then maybe me, together with the millions of OFW don’t have to migrate. If we can make that happen, just imagine what we could do to improve the lives of everyone in our barangay, in our city, in our country and in our world!
To those who are aware and have done something, I salute you! To those who were aware but stopped believing, come back! We all have a role in the struggle. To those who have yet to understand what the problem is, there are people like me who can help you understand. To those who think what I stand for is bad, I wish you well. We are not doing this for you but for the majority of the Filipino people who know what it means to be a Filipino.
Together, we can make that dream happen! Long live the struggle! Power to the people!
Sincerely,
James Castillo
Organizer
(YND)- California
Youth for Nationalism and Democracy
For questions, comments and suggestions email me at james_julian_castillo@yahoo.com
He also had volunteered in the Centers based in the US advocating for the welafare of the precarious workers.
I would like to share this letter from him to you with his consent to hopefully reach more youth to become more socially aware. We hope that you too, will share this to others. Please feel free to communicate through this add or james' add.
--- On Wed, 6/11/08, james julian castillo
From: james julian castillo
Most Filipinos from the Philippines to the Filipinos and Filipino-Americans in California to New York have a perception that Philippines as a nation is hopeless. Their reason varies from corruption, to culture, to education. At a young age of twenty one, I can not accept this feeling of hopelessness. And I hope a lot of our youth today will share my sympathies. For if we accept this sense of hopelessness, we will be putting in vain the sweat and blood that were shed by people we see today in plazas, schools and establishments that have been frozen in time like Andres Bonifacio and Jose Rizal.
A lot of us youth will be going back to school and I would like to share my insights to all of you from my experiences in my high school and college days, to my work here in California and my brief visit to New York in the hope of giving you a broader perspective of the world we live in.
Back in high school ( University of San Jose-Recolletos ) and college ( Cebu Normal University ), I was sometimes misunderstood by my classmates and schoolmates for I was always asking questions and always reading something. Some of us youth like to fit in, but some just don’t seem to fit in with the cool dudes. I know we want to belong because until now I still want belong. We also want to understand a lot of things, but most of the time the right people and the materials that would have given us some explanation to our burning questions are out of reach for most of the Filipino youth.
Its very ironic that a lot of our parents and adults see (formal) education as important that is why they sacrifice a lot just so we can have a chance at having a better job but they don’t seem to understand that education is more that just being able to land on a job. Education is more than that. When we ask critical questions they tell us to shut up, even killing some of us to demonstrate their point. But then again, we hear them say how important (formal) education is.
I don’t blame the youth why most of us are not familiar with the real history of our nation. I blame the class in society that designed our educational system to make us ignorant about our real past. You may ask who that class is? Just remove those sunglasses and look around you. Look at the streets, look at your friends, look at your family, look at the school, the tv, radio, newspaper and internet, look at the government, look at our sea, our land, the trees, animals, the buildings and others you can see and sense around you. Which class in society benefits from how things are set up?
Why should we waste our time in trying to get that piece of paper that will say we stayed in school for a number of years and now we are qualified to work when the only work we get is a lousy minimum wage job that can’t even support you, let alone your family? Why waste time when the only option is a call center job where we have to pretend that we are somebody else?
I’m not saying don’t go to school. What I’m saying is, don’t just go to school to get a piece of paper. If you are one of our fortunate fellow youth that have access to formal education, use it to really understand what kind of problem we are facing. Use formal education to find a collective solution to a collective problem. Use it to see where we are going as a nation and what we can do, as the inheritors of this planet to create a better country, a world, a system where all of us have an opportunity to rise above and help ourselves live a decent and happy life. If we can make that happen then maybe me, together with the millions of OFW don’t have to migrate. If we can make that happen, just imagine what we could do to improve the lives of everyone in our barangay, in our city, in our country and in our world!
To those who are aware and have done something, I salute you! To those who were aware but stopped believing, come back! We all have a role in the struggle. To those who have yet to understand what the problem is, there are people like me who can help you understand. To those who think what I stand for is bad, I wish you well. We are not doing this for you but for the majority of the Filipino people who know what it means to be a Filipino.
Together, we can make that dream happen! Long live the struggle! Power to the people!
Sincerely,
James Castillo
Organizer
(YND)- California
Youth for Nationalism and Democracy
For questions, comments and suggestions email me at james_julian_castillo@yahoo.com
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