Agarcio, Ralph Vinze D.

C
2019-03614
Philo 1-THW

Reflections on the Three Quotes

From Frederick Douglas
We often forget that reading does not limit itself to a mere hobby or a past time
activity. Reading brings enlightenment and enlightenment brings freedom. It is evident in the
Philippine History as well. During the times when the Spanish forbade the Filipinos they
called indios to study their language and treat them as peasants, generally at the bottom of the
social class, the Filipinos were thought to be savages with no knowledge at all and have no
right to have voice and power in their own land. When the ilustrados came, they brought the
dawn for the Filipino to gradually unchain themselves through novels that ignited the
revolution like Rizal’s Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo. The independence they have
fought through knowledge by reading can also be applied up until now. We are still seeing
many faces of social injustices in our country. Through reading, we will not just be relying on
someone else’s point of view because we have our own thinking and by thinking we can be
critical to what issue we may face to free those who were chained from darkness brought by
ignorance.
From Carlos Ruiz Zafón
A book is a manifestation of the author’s personality and perspective. The author who
wrote the book primarily produced a series of thoughts based from his observation around
him/her. These observations were written and can be also immortalized if it provides an
exceptional content no one had ever given. Knowledge is the texts that are included inside it.
Most of the time, knowledge is shared and transmitted in every generation. It can be also a
subject of memorization in schools but wisdom it is the effect of the book to its reader
because it transcends on what people should know, it pertains to what people should do when
the situation requires them to consider and made a decision. A person who read a lot of books
is a person who eagerly wants to appreciate different kind of things through the lenses of the
author.
From Rumi
The quote exhibits a change in a person’s perspective with regards to wisdom. We
often associate that knowledge with power but in reality, wisdom gives knowledge the power.
As a child, children’s books and notebooks from different subjects became the centre of
knowledge-seeking as I call it during the elementary level. This continues in high school as
the academics require a bag full of information in different subjects or discipline. We dreamt
to change the world in our own way through realizing our own forte in school but the
assurance is uncertain. Changing the world does not mean that we have to be extraordinary
individual who will start a revolution to change the system through our own ways. Changing
the world requires no great invention and famous personality, it requires a change in
ourselves which can be only be attained through wisdom. We are full of knowledge to
continue the production in our planet but behind these cycles it is important to remind
ourselves if we still have the wisdom by practicing reason in our daily lives. A person who is
wise will always be ahead of a knowledgeable one.