Literature is everywhere.
We grew up reading and hearing different
kinds of literature, from the bedtime stories that our mom reads to us before
bedtime, the novels that we read in our teenage years that made us feel
butterflies in our stomach, and also from all the books that our teacher
discusses to us that we cannot even understand. I love reading different kinds
of stories that let my imagination run free. I love hearing stories from various
people and learning from their experiences. I love how literature connects us
to others not only to people but also to the characters in the books we read,
we laugh and we cry with them, we join them in their story from climax until
the end, and we feel all kinds of emotion and it’s just fulfilling because you’ve
been there from the very beginning. This feeling just makes you feel very
thankful that literature exists. As an introverted person, I was very thankful
that I never felt alone, I found a companion through reading. Every book I
read has every character I can relate to and I learned from them. I learned
how to love the way I am, built my confidence, and became a better version of
myself. I learned that we cannot judge every person unless we know their
point of view. It awakened me to the reality of the world, that it is not just all
about happiness and love there’s also pain and suffering. Your views and
perspectives will also change. From the moment I read the novel of our hero,
Dr. Jose Rizal, it dawned on me why we, Filipinos, are like this. As to why we
love foreign-made products more than our products. As to why we tend to
drag others down just because they have what we don’t have. As to why we
use whitening soap because we do not want our natural color. As to why we
think that foreign people are superior while we are inferior. It is because the
Spaniards imprinted it on us, that although we have been freed from them, we
have never been free from their influences. Ever since I realized this, I told
myself that I didn't want to be like these Filipinos and that we are not slaves in
our own country. This is the power of literature, no wonder that from this
literature, the revolution started.
