Asian Journal- The Filipino-American Community Newspaper

"COURAGE is the essence of faith. Only the brave can have faith. A wise person is willing to fight his battles within himself. He eventually becomes established in a higher state of mind." – Swami Ashokananda

NVM Gonzalez is often described as a man who had an affair with letters.

I disagree.

I believe NVM had many love affairs – with his violin, with the love of his life, Narita, and of course, with his friends.

He loved folks quite deeply. He only wanted the best for them.

I remember one time, when NVM visited me, I practically shared all my life’s angst and anxieties for the week.

He heard every word yet, he did not give in to my complaints nor grievances. He did not even address them. Instead, he told me to write.

Ten years ago, I told him that I was not a writer. But, he believed that each person has a story to write – that there is a genius lurking in all of us.

I told him that I write journals, but not for publication. He smiled and allowed me to have the last say that weekend.

Years later, it turned out to be the opposite. Now, I’m here writing about the process of how he got me to become a published writer.

A month after we last spoke, I shared with him how I felt while reading an American academic’s version of Philippine history.

Barbara Gaerlan was an academic who revised the role of T.H. Pardo de Tavera and synthesized his positive role of ushering "progress connected to the pursuit of modernity with the introduction of English language." Her article exulted T.H.Pardo de Tavera, who was once depicted by Teodoro Agoncillo (a renowned historian) as someone who collaborated with American colonizers.

In fact, T.H. de Tavera was the first to defect to the Americans and even went further, advocating the annexation of the Philippines as a territory of the United States.

Gaerlan’s academic essay gave new interpretation to T.H. Pardo de Tavera’s role – that he was a visionary who understood the role of English. He put the importance of American occupation in the foreground by using education, English as a medium of instruction and by emphasizing on the crucial role of the 600 Thomasites who were sent by the United States.

The article theorized that English became the instrument for the Philippine’s pursuit of modernity and ushered this country into the era of science and technology. It further implies that his legacy of the pursuit of modernity is itself revolutionary.