1.

Explain how faith in God could help develop hope and optimism
among Filipinos.

Filipinos are known to be religious people, some even call themselves

God-centered individuals. Their faith in their religion, prayer, and in God is
stronger than most of us think and this is what binds them to what we call
hope. Having faith in God promises us a fulfilled life. And the word promise
is associated with the word hope. Thus, having faith in God is equivalent to
hoping for a fulfilled life. When we have faith in God, we are relying
everything on Him, that is why we are optimistic and confident that it will
happen and this is all because we put everything in God’s hands.

2. Did Rizal have faith in God? Support your answer.

Yes, Rizal did believe in God. He said it so explicitly to one of his

letters addressed to Fr. Pablo Pastells. In a book called The Rizal-Pastells
Correspondence written by Fr. Pastells which was mentioned in one article
in PhilStar Global, translations and quotes from Rizal himself via Pastells
are included.
In Rizal’s third letter to Pastells, he said “I believe in revelation, but in
the living revelation of nature which surrounds us everywhere, in the voice
speaking out through natureーpowerful, eternal, unceasing, incorruptible,
clear, distinct, and universal as the Being from the which it comes. It is this
revelation that I believe in, which speaks to us and penetrates our being from
the day we are born to the day we die”.
As Rizal grew up in a devoted Catholic family, he has a strong
foundation and knowledge about Christianity, its culture and beliefs.
However, the way he magnificently thinks and perceives things makes his
faith in God more explicit, stronger, and more genuine.
Seeing all of his mind-shattering works that triggered all Filipinos to
fight for their own independence and freedom, symbols of Catholicism were
pretty obvious too.
 However, in one of the articles I have read(I forgot who the author is
and where it came from), Rizal doubted that Jesus Christ was the God. He
said in one of his letters to Pastells, “Who dies on the cross? Was it God or
man? If it was God, I do not understand how God could die, how a God
conscious of his mission could cry out in his bitter agony”.
Despite this, Rizal himself confirmed that he is not agnostic (Dr. Rizal, The
Doubter-The Manila Bulletin Article) and that he acknowledged there is
God who provides for lives and everything that he has and we have.

3. Suggest specific actions or activities that could restore the Filipinos’

pride in themselves. Explain your answer.

Aside from posting on social media using the #PinoyPride whenever a

Filipino competes internationally and won, here are some activities that we
could engage ourselves to become more patriot and thus restoring the
Filipino pride, too;
● Supporting young independent local artists by promoting and buying
their art. Many artists dwell in painting, singing, dancing cultural
activities that soften our Filipino heart.
● By exercising our right to suffrage, when we vote we are participating
in choosing who will lead our country in the succeeding years, when
we vote, we are placing our faith in them for a better life as a
Philippine citizen. A good leader of a country is a Filipinos’ national
pride.
● Based on personal interest, I indulge myself in reading books.
Reading books will also restore the Pinoy Pride in ourselves, too. By
simply, buying (not illegally) their books, reading them, and
promoting to others. Showcasing to them how good Filipinos write
and tell a story.
4. Suggest specific actions or activities that could counteract feelings of
hopelessness and pessimism among young and old Filipino citizens.
Explain your answer.

Negativities are the only abundant things I don’t want in life, yet it
 really comes and we could not do but counteract it, and here are some
activities to defeat the growing hopelessness and pessimism among all
Filipinos;
● Giving these young and old Filipino individuals the support they need.
To do these, we could volunteer in some charity works, workshops,
and movements that tend to help the needy
● Give them a reason to hope for something they want to happen, be a
bridge to someone to the dream they have always wanted to happen.
Inspire people to hope, make them understand that hope is what gives
us the strength to further continue and be better at life.
● Recollection of all historic individuals who became a Pinoy Pride and
used to feel pessimists, too. By showing to the individuals who feels
hopelessness and pessimism the achievements and the character
development of others might change their way of thinking, redirect
their path towards optimism and see to it that there are great things in
life to achieve and we just need hope in ourselves to have it.

5. In the time of inflation rate, historical revisionism, cancel culture,

among others, what do you think should be the actions of the Filipinos
to counteract the negativity brought by these actions?

As everything modernizes and evolves, we could not and would not

protect ourselves and the next generations from these negativities in life. We
just have to build strong defenses within ourselves to withstand these
challenges.
● Inflation rate is something we could not stop, it will grow and grow
and we just have to go with the flow. It is sad that the inflation rate is
continuing to rise yet the salaries of every worker remains and if ever
changes happen, it’s too little to notice. To counteract the negativity
brought by this phenomena, is to be more financial wise in life. Invest
in things that will give you a great return in time, use your money
wisely for it to grow to combat the ever-growing prices of everything. ●
Historical Revisionism is something that we see in two different ways,
we are either excited or fear the aftermath of it. To counteract the
 negativity brought by this phenomena, we must constantly revisit the
history written in history books authored by true historians and we must
fight it by encouraging someone to revisit them too and spread the word.
Historical revisionism is scary, we don’t know how it would affect the
next generation’s perspectives.
● Cancel culture is something that I truly find immature, unnecessary,
and cruel. The society is now canceling someone known just because
of a mistake done by him/her. It is toxic and to counteract the
negativity this brought to many, we must remind ourselves that we,
too, make mistakes and to cancel their existence and forget what they
have contributed is awful. It’s like canceling culture does not give any
chance to redemption for the one who made a mistake.
These cruelties and social phenomena may have the chance to not end but
we can combat how it affects the people.