Dead, Buried, Unburied or Alive

(Dead, Buried, Unburied or Alive)
Andres Bonifacio is a hero we remember

today. Tomorrow we will remember another
hero. But the heroes we remember are dead
and we remember them only with a
monument there and a holiday here. What we
need today are living heroes who live what
our dead heroes believed in. Dead heroes
remain dead if their heroism is not lived again
by the living.
The living who honor their dead heroes by
delivering speeches and building monuments
are only insulting their memory. Even Jesus
Christ has no need for mere preachers and
theologians. He needs living witnesses of his
message, believers who are also “livers” of the
Word.
True heroes are those who live and die,
and live again in the people who believe in
them. Someone, somewhere, must stand up
and prove that his hero is alive by reliving his
hero’s life, and dying for it if need be. Rizal,
Bonifacio, Jacinto and others are true heroes
only to the extent that we are willing to
become heroes like them.
Heroism, however, is not image-building,
which is nothing more than an invention of political
and commercial propaganda. For example, movie
producers make heroes out of hoodlums and
prostitutes to make money. Look at the heroes our
culture seems to be creating today. You are a hero
if you are rich. You are a hero if you are popular
and powerful. You are a hero if you are bad. You
are a hero if you are weird. We are becoming a
nation of phony heroes. The values, virtues and
ideals of our dead heroes sound valid only during
eulogies.
But there are heroes who walk with us
today. They are hidden among us. Most of
these heroes will remain unknown and
unheralded in their lifetime. Hopefully, long
after we have buried them, they will arise and
come alive again in the living.
Remembering our heroes is remembering our
past. According to psychologists, the past is what
memories are made of, and memories are what we
are. What we are today is either a reaction to a
wounded memory or a response to a happy one.
We retain wholesome memories of our childhood
only after we have forgotten the events. Wounded
memories, on the other hand, can surface in the
form of behavioral observations like feelings, fear,
bitterness, and vengeance. It is therefore not what
our past has been but how we accept memories of
that past that can make or unmake us.
Emotional events like death, burial,
exhaustion, or simply requirements and services
for the dead should serves as opportunities for
us to accept our past and to heal our wounded
memories. The painful struggles of our nation as
symbolized by the passion and death of our
heroes may have scarred our national soul, but
unless wounded memories are healed, unless
enemies are forgiven (even if they cannot yet find
it in their hearts to ask to be forgiven), we will
remain frozen and imprisoned in our past.
Healing historical memories, however,
does not mean forgetting the past. It means
accepting and forgiving ourselves and our
enemies. And after having been freed from
our past anger and resentment, we can
confront our future in peace.
 Theologian
 Hoodlum
 Eulogy
 Unheralded
 Wholesome
 Exhumation
 Resentment
 Confront
Adverbial clauses are used like single-word
adverbs are - to modify verbs, adjectives, and
adverbs. They occupy the time and place
positions in the basic sentence patterns.
 To show purpose:
that, in order that, so that
 To show condition:
if, unless
 To show concession or to grant:
although, though, even though, even if, while
 To show result:
so – that, such – that
 To show cause or reason:
because, since, as
 To show manner:
as, as if, as though
 To show comparison:
than, as – as, so – as
 To show time relationship:
while, when, whenever, until, till, before, after, as
 To show space relationship:
where, wherever
A cause-effect relationship is a relationship
in which one event (the cause) makes another
event happen (the effect). One cause can have
several effects.
 because, for, since, as
(Pattern: independent + dependent)
Ex.
We honor them with speeches and monuments
because we do not relive their heroism.
 since, because
(Pattern: dependent + independent)
Ex.
Since our movies extol the wrong kind of
people, we are becoming a nation of phony heroes.
 because
(Pattern: independent + phrase)
Ex.
Many adults have feelings of fear, bitterness
and vengeance because of their wounded
memories.

Dead, Buried, Unburied or Alive

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Dead, Buried, Unburied or Alive

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Andres Bonifacio is a hero we remember

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(Pattern: dependent + independent)

(Pattern: independent + phrase)

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