Respect for our National Anthem

I have observed that a lot of people no longer stand or stop what they are doing whenever the Philippine National Anthem is played in public. This is the case whether indoors or outdoors with the obvious exceptions of flag ceremonies in offices and schools, and the formal openings of programs like conferences.

The anthem is usually played in public places like malls and parks. At malls, the anthem is commonly played prior to the establishments' opening their doors to customers. It is also played prior to the first screening of films at theaters or cinemas. In these situations, one will find that a lot of people now tend to not mind the anthem and just go about what they were doing. I would understand this if this were about the orasyon or the Angelus since many people are not Catholics. However, this is the national anthem here and it is not as if we hear this played all the time and much has been written about how it is to be sung or played. For the last, there is actually a law stating how the Lupang Hinirang was to be sung and played (i.e., it is a march and NOT a ballad, pop or rock song).

It is said that big things start with the smaller ones and how do we expect to make this country into a big-time thing if we couldn't even make ourselves stand to show respect to our own national anthem. We look at other countries and we always state or express how we envy the people of the likes of Germany, Japan or Thailand for being able to preserve their culture, customs and traditions. We say "mabuti pa sila" when we cannot even make ourselves follow simple instructions or honor the most basic aspects of our being Filipino.

I appreciate the parents I saw at a cinema who asked their children to stand while the anthem played. I believe they are teaching their children to become responsible citizens of this country. If only for their example, perhaps it is not yet too late for this country to realize it has to start with the basics if it wants to get to the big stage.

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