Journal Writing:

✔ Write your Journal Entry about the poem. In your journal entry, include the following:
why you liked this poem; how it made you feel; the message you got from it; and how it
affects your appreciation of the past and the present.
✔ The rubric for the journal entry are the following:
● 50% Content
● 30% Organization
● 10% Mechanics
● 10% Completeness
JOURNAL ENTRY 02
The poem talks about the experiences of the
people in the time of martial law particularly the point-
of-view of the child. I like the poem in a way that it
provides a glimpse of what martial law was like back
then. You could say that the poem is dark because in
every line of it there is a hidden meaning. But still, it is
nice. Just like what the father and Apo's relationship, the
persona and his father's relationship is like. You could
say that violence is not the thing that is rampant at that
time, there are other values as well. Power, respect,
loyalty, and bravery are just some of the values that the
poem showed us. Lastly, I like the poem because of the
way the poem is conveyed which is through the child, of
what the child sees, heard, and thoughts. A child's
perspective is way different from an adult's. The child's
perspective of martial law is that people are disciplined.
Another one is that Martial Law is a scary time because
of Marcos himself and the people who are in authority.
 This poem caught my attention and made me feel ambiguous because
of the different perspectives or sides on Martial Law. It brings mixed
emotions to me. Satisfaction, anger, and grief are among the emotions
the poem has brought to me. Well, I felt satisfied because the people
are disciplined back then. People are respectful toward the authorities,
not like the present that people think they are more powerful than the
authorities. It even comes to a point that by discipline people are
scared toward the people in authority because some authority abuses
their power. I felt anger because of the brutal things that happened
behind the curtains of discipline. There is a great abuse of powers by
the people in authority. To emphasize, great abuse of powers. The way
the authorities disciplined the people is very wrong and inhuman. The
tortures, murders, and persecutions are the way authorities used
toward the people. These immoral conducts are the reason why people
are scared toward the authorities and eventually, discipline, an
obligatory kind of discipline. I felt sorrow or grief towards the people
who are being tortured without any legal basis. Imagine yourself being
tortured or murdered by the authorities just because you are
expressing your disappointment in the government.

“ Apo on the wall” taught me the value of being open-minded. We

mustn’t come up with a fixed concentrated one-sided story of someone
or something, it will only conceal the big picture that everyone must-
see. We must stop ourselves from overgeneralization of a certain story.
Teach yourself the habit of seeking out multiple perspectives. Everyone
needs to fully understand the overall view. We mustn’t settle from
limited sources of information. We might miss the important details
that are vital to know the truth or worse it can lead us to false ideas.
You must recognize that broad generalizations are often misleading.
Skills in perspective consciousness and the habit of seeking out
different perspectives can help us recognize how to interpret events
and issues in quite different ways based on their backgrounds and
experiences, knowledge, beliefs, and values.

The poem of Bj Patino is a comparison of the past and present. It

imparted me the sense of learning from the past through our own
history. It captivated my entire perspective to enlighten me for the
whole truth in the past that change my present overview. The poem
gave me the reason to give value to what had occurred in our past. We
must give ourselves room for a personal outlook from our previous
mistakes and start applying the wisdom in our present time.
Rick Warren once said, “We are products of our past, but we don’t have
to be prisoners of it. ”Our past has already passed away now. Our
present learns from our past and wanted a new start in life. Our future
calls us to move forward and keep looking straight ahead. Everything is
in the past now. We should know the purpose of our mistakes, it is
intended to mold and build us of whom we are and who we will
become. Our past is already our past. We don’t have the power to
change it whether we like it or not. For our own sake, let us learn from
the mistakes and failures we had done, and then let it go. Let us live
through starting right.