Freedom and Independence (not the two shuttles from Armageddon)

Originally I was supposed to write an entry in all Filipino (or Tagalog whichever you prefer) but I figured that sadly I can express my thoughts better in English since my train of thought is well, in English.

What exactly is Independence? The dictionary defines it as freedom from the control, influence, support, aid, or the like, of others. Honestly when it comes to politics and all of that I have no idea as to how it feels like to be under the control of a foreign power or the like or maybe a dictatorship since I was fortunate enough to be born in a time where we can really say that we have our independence. So instead of writing about something I have no idea about I'm gonna tell you about the way I see independence.

I live alone. I pay for my own bills, I pretty much control my time and whatever it is that I want to do at home (whether it be something kinky or not I leave up to your imagination) but basically what I'm trying to say is that the way I define independence is being free of control from my parents. I love my parents don't get me wrong, but I honestly think that I was born as a free spirit or so it says on my zodiac sign, I thrive on being able to do what I want to and I'm more responsible this way. Independence is a responsibility, it's a big one at that. It's not something that you can just have, it's something that you earn, something that you fight for, something that even when you already have it you constantly have to work for it. It's power in it's rawest essence and as the immortal line from spider man goes, with great power comes.... you know the rest. I know that most people in this generation don't really value the high price we paid for our independence, I sincerely hope that we start to act like we're at least grateful for what was given to us by our ancestors who traded literally blood and tears to have what it is that we so callously take for granted now.

I for one know that I've been taking it for granted, yeah I can speak Tagalog but I'd like to think that I should be friggin excellent at it since I've been in the Philippines my entire life. I understand Ilonggo since I lived there for about 3 years and I speak "fluent" Cebuano since I lived there for 4 years but Filipino is something that I should be more comfortable with since technically it should be my first language. Westernization is of course a big factor in all of this 95% of the movies I watch are Hollywood films and 90% of the TV shows that I watch are also shows from the UK or from the US.

Whenever people ask me why I don't move to a different country where supposedly opportunities are better I always tell them "I can't because I'm too comfortable here in the Philippines", and for those of you who know me, you'd know that I'm a creature of comfort. Whenever I go abroad for a vacation I can only stay in whatever country for a maximum of 4 days because I get homesick.

This entire weekend I tried to pay homage to being a Filipino by doing the Friday radio show in mostly Tagalog, on Saturday I TRIED tweeting entirely in Tagalog as well, and on Sunday Party Pilipinas did an independence day tribute. From saying "patotoy" on air instead of patotot, to screwing up my tenses on twitter, all the way to watching Filipino classics (that brought me back to my childhood) being performed on Party Pilipinas I had only one thought throughout this entire weekend.

I am damn proud to be Pinoy.

Happy Independence day everyone :)