[/caption](The essay below was adjudged as third in the Essay Writing Contest sponsored by the Learning Resource Center of our school, HCDC. Which means this essay's only worth a hundred pesos.)
Books have many purposes. There are books that entertain. There are books that teach us how to cook and plant. But books as weapons for independence? Probably a far-fetched idea. But once upon a time, in the Philippines, books were not just ornaments that adorned the library. Books, which are carriers of ideas, were once used as weapons for independence.
According to the historian Ambeth Ocampo, during the Spanish regime, the Philippines was sealed against liberal ideas. The Filipinos, who were then called indios, were not allowed to read. The Spaniards were so afraid that Filipinos might be enlightened they established a Comision de Censura. Its task was to censor all the books coming in the Philippines. This kept the Filipinos in the dark for well over three centuries.
Fortunately, we have such audacious heroes as Jose Rizal, Andres Bonifacio, and Apolinario Mabini. All were voracious readers. All acquired liberal ideas, which later spurred them to fight for independence from the Spaniards.
We can thus see that reading, as Ambeth Ocampo said, really “has the power to change both heart and mind. Reading can spell the difference between independence and slavery; liberation and isolation. Without reading our history would have turned out differently. Reading liberates.”
But alas, people nowadays, especially those who belong to the “dot com” generation, prefer the internet to the books; the digital to the printed word. We cannot, however, blame them, can we?. The internet is much faster and much more accessible.
Yet we need not despair. Books may be losing their luster, but reading will be here to stay. The challenge therefore is for the library to keep itself up to date, to keep the people’s passion for reading aflame.
And we must not waver. For the colonizers might have long been gone, but there’s one more evil that we need to exorcise: ignorance.
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