a rightful passage

ROOTS was the very first book dad gave me to lure me to shift from my nancy drew/hardy boys reading, to novels which he said i needed to learn to love as passionately as how i did with the former bunch...it was summer that time, just freshly graduated from grade school and the one thing i was pre-occupied with and so excited about then was getting through the 3 days-a-week practice with the high school volleyball varsity team for the entire 2-month summer break, never mind if i was the only one from my batch invited by the coach to train with the HS team...dad said i have plenty of extra time in-between each week to teach myself, veer away and say goodbye to nancy, joe & frank, and welcome the world of alex haley, mario puzo, robert ludlum, sydney sheldon etal...

i remember asking him why 'Roots', especially after seeing that it's triple the thickness of nancy's or the boys' - urgh! he then explained that in order to like novels, my first read should be interesting enough for me not to want to stop and get back to the mystery gang...

of course he was right - i got glued to each page and totally immersed...i was able to finally relate to 'kunta kinte' discussions between dad and my older sisters during dinners, eventually contributing my thoughts and opinions about some of the realities of life i was only beginning to understand...perhaps dad's main purpose why he chose 'Roots' for me to read was indeed to open my eyes and mind to a world where freedom should not just be a matter of choice nor privilege, but a human right...

four years later while i was packing my bags and getting ready for university life and looking at the things i needed and wanted to bring to the dorm, i took 'Roots' from the bookshelf and made sure it's one of the items going with me...

two months later i was joining student rallies and social integration programmes with the masses to fight oppression and uphold freedom of speech...

i surely got upRooted no doubt...

* about the background music: Bayan Ko (My Country)

This patriotic song has accompanied almost every struggle of the Filipino since the turn of the century to recapture the visions and ideals of the First Republic -- from the anti-American protest movement and millenarian revolts of the 1920's and 30's, to the resistance against the Japanese occupation in the 40's, the student revolt of the 70's and more recently, the 1986 "People's Power" revolt that toppled the Marcos dictatorship. Original Tagalog lyrics is by Jose Corazon de Jesus, melody by Constancio de Guzman.