TOMELDEN, HEDILIZA A.

II – BSE ENGLISH B

LIT2 – LITERARY REFLECTION

You Cannot Eat Nationalism
By: Leandro V. Coronel

1. My concept of nationalism is a division of love and affection for one’s country, a

nationalism that ensures unity like language and heritage that is given more
significance in the cultural context, and implies to an individual that his country is
the superior among other nations.
I consider Dr. Jose Rizal as a nationalist, because of his love for our country. He
wrote a book that demonstrates his principles that people have been learning
from it until today. It shows love for our country because it wants to unite, he’s a
nationalist who use his skills and virtues to write novels. He emphasized the
importance of the Tagalog language, which will not serve as a basis for the
knowledge of its status in life. He wants us to unite and to be proud of our
country as Filipinos.
2. I show my sense of nationalism in some of simple ways, like showing respect
whenever our national anthem is sung, I place my right hand on my left chest in
respect of our national heroes who risk their lives for our country, and I am proud
of my nationality and my unique personality as a Filipino.
I think it's worth dying for the Philippines. The unifying part of Filipino culture,
given the diversity of the Philippines, is a complex matter, but the long-standing
struggle for independence has given rise to a sense of national identity and the
beauty of our Filipino race.
3. The politics of the Philippines take place within the framework of a presidential,
representative and democratic republic, where the president is both the head of
state and the head of government within a multi-party system.
The typical motivation of people who run for public office is that they legitimately
want to change policies and change the lives of their constituents.
4. Comment on the following statements.
A. It is because citizens want our country to be better, but do not make a
difference with their complaints. So now our country’s politics becoming
worsen and worsen.
B. In this case, wealth-distributed societies are able to grow more quickly and
that those who are poorer are richer faster than those living in more equal
societies. It is important for poorer people that they have more resources to
 control. The fact that multimillionaires in software broaden the gap between
them and make society worse is less important to them.
C. In this case, politicians only run for their own benefit positions without
knowing the fair needs of their people and their country.
D. We Filipinos are becoming immature in complaining about the mistakes of the
politicians, but not assuring ourselves to abide by the laws before we
complain.
E. Perhaps because instead of developing our country, we've made the worst of
it. In a sense, politicians are blinded in becoming rich. And now the love of our
country was like fading away.
F. Maybe because corruption is a matter of “dishonest or illegal behavior
especially by powerful people,” including, for instance, government officials or
the police; and primary examples of corrupt behavior are bribery and any
other inducement by improper or unlawful means that makes all of society
was said to be corrupt.
G. Government has lost authority to lead people because they have the capacity
to enlist people in different tasks but instead of making our country a better
place, it’s just happened to be opposite.
H. There is nothing wrong with being thankful that we are Filipinos, the only
reason to think of ingratitude is the way in which politics is going on in the
Philippines.
I. Yes, and I believe that when the time comes to change the inner attitudes of
our minds, the outer aspects may change.
5. Explanations of the message.
a. Science may find a cure for some scientific problems, but man's lack of
apathy is the worst problem that has no solution but will.
b. It means that people who know the right thing to do, but are afraid to do it, are
cowards. When a person knows what's right, it's the responsibility of that
person to act regardless of the risk. It is less a problem not to act correctly
than to know what is right and not to do it.
c. Life isn't about avoiding bruises, maybe it's about collecting scars from
different situations to prove that we've come up with a lot of change to
achieve comforting fulfillment.
6. "You cannot eat nationalism" implied the situation of our country when it comes
to politics, the politicians become blind and saw only the rich instead of helping
the poor fairly, that negates "The Filipinos are worth dying for" advocated by the
late Sen. Benigno Aquino because of the Filipinos' false attribute that caused our
own country to fall.
7. Yes, I agree that it's a good time to start at the beginning of the year. But it’s
much better if you start sooner even its not the begging of the year.
8. It was his challenge to make us change for the better.
9. We were apathetic and carefree with regard to our country's well-being and
future.