Memories
While I seem to find it harder these days to memorize new stuff, I still remember particular pieces from my past. For example, after reading in Sky’s blog his inability to remember the “Panatang Makabayan” I took a deep breath and recited out loud the following:
Panatang makabayan. Iniibig ko ang Pilipinas. Ito ang aking lupang sinilangan. Ito ang tahanan ng aking lahi. Ako’y kanyang kinukupkop at tinutulungan upang maging malakas, maligaya at kapakipakinabang. Bilang ganti ay diringgin ko ang payo ng aking mga magulang. Susundin ko ang mga tuntunin ng aking paaralan. Tutuparin ko ang mga tungkulin bilang isang mamamayang makabayan, sa isip, sa salita at sa gawa. (May kulang ba?)
After that I recited out loud the preamble of the 19-something Philippine constitution:
We, the sovereign Filipino people, imploring the aid of Divine Providence, in order to establish a government that shall embody our ideals, promote the general welfare, conserve and develop the patrimony of our nation, and secure to ourselves and our posterity the blessings of democracy under a regime of Justice, Peace, Liberty and Equality, do ordain and promulgate this Constitution.
When Tita Cory rewrote the constitution in 1980-something, I remember they changed “Divine Providence” to “Almighty God” or something like that. Whatever.
Weirder still is how I still remember the poem “Death Be Not Proud” by John Donne:
Death be not proud / Though some have called Thee mighty and dreadful, for Thou art not so. / For those, whom Thou think’st Thou dost overthrow, die not, poor Death! / Nor yet canst Thou kill me. / From rest and sleep, which but thy picture be much pleasure / then from Thee much more must flow. / And soonest our best men with Thee do go, / rest of their bones and souls delivery! / Thou art slave to Fate, Chance, kings and desperate men / and dost with poison, war and sickness dwell. / And poppy or charms can make us sleep as well, / And better than Thy stroke. Why swellest Thou, then?
One short sleep past, we wake eternally. And Death shall be no more. / Death, Thou shalt die.
While I don’t remember my lines anymore from the plays I did in grade school and high school, I still remember one line from a play I did in college for Spanish 2: “Si, no es verdad todo lo que dije, mi latigo acabara contigo!” (For you Spaniards out there, sorry for the wrong spelling, if any; I only memorized what the words sounded like, not how they’re spelled.)
Now if you’ll excuse me, I still have a few pages to memorize for the play.
Panatang makabayan. Iniibig ko ang Pilipinas. Ito ang aking lupang sinilangan. Ito ang tahanan ng aking lahi. Ako’y kanyang kinukupkop at tinutulungan upang maging malakas, maligaya at kapakipakinabang. Bilang ganti ay diringgin ko ang payo ng aking mga magulang. Susundin ko ang mga tuntunin ng aking paaralan. Tutuparin ko ang mga tungkulin bilang isang mamamayang makabayan, sa isip, sa salita at sa gawa. (May kulang ba?)
After that I recited out loud the preamble of the 19-something Philippine constitution:
We, the sovereign Filipino people, imploring the aid of Divine Providence, in order to establish a government that shall embody our ideals, promote the general welfare, conserve and develop the patrimony of our nation, and secure to ourselves and our posterity the blessings of democracy under a regime of Justice, Peace, Liberty and Equality, do ordain and promulgate this Constitution.
When Tita Cory rewrote the constitution in 1980-something, I remember they changed “Divine Providence” to “Almighty God” or something like that. Whatever.
Weirder still is how I still remember the poem “Death Be Not Proud” by John Donne:
Death be not proud / Though some have called Thee mighty and dreadful, for Thou art not so. / For those, whom Thou think’st Thou dost overthrow, die not, poor Death! / Nor yet canst Thou kill me. / From rest and sleep, which but thy picture be much pleasure / then from Thee much more must flow. / And soonest our best men with Thee do go, / rest of their bones and souls delivery! / Thou art slave to Fate, Chance, kings and desperate men / and dost with poison, war and sickness dwell. / And poppy or charms can make us sleep as well, / And better than Thy stroke. Why swellest Thou, then?
One short sleep past, we wake eternally. And Death shall be no more. / Death, Thou shalt die.
While I don’t remember my lines anymore from the plays I did in grade school and high school, I still remember one line from a play I did in college for Spanish 2: “Si, no es verdad todo lo que dije, mi latigo acabara contigo!” (For you Spaniards out there, sorry for the wrong spelling, if any; I only memorized what the words sounded like, not how they’re spelled.)
Now if you’ll excuse me, I still have a few pages to memorize for the play.
posted by joelmcvie at 8:02 PM
3 Comments:
i still couldn't understand why we were made to memorize panatang makabayan.
The point there is, does it make me and the wife less Filipino?
We're still using tabo.
SKY: No, it just means you and the wife are getting old, hehehe.
Weird thing, memory. I remember the Panatang Makabayan but the Act of Contrition is lost to me.
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