Rome, Italy. 18/05/2014
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| (Emilio Jacinto, 1894) |
Emilio Jacinto's address to the
candidates at an initiation in 1894, while the society was still confining its
membership to Manila. It later became an important part of the ritual of the
widely spread patriotic association out of which grew the Philippine Republic.
This address is to be know later as the "Kartilya ng Katipunan".)
A life not consecrated to some
rational, lofty purpose is like a tree that affords no shade, if it be not like
a poisonous plant.
Doing good for personal profit,
and not for the sake of the good itself, is not goodness.
Charity is rational, as is the
love we owe our neighbors, and so our attitude, deeds and words should ever
conform to what is reasonable.
Whether the complexion be dark
or light, all men are equal. Superiority through knowledge, from riches and by
beauty are all possible, but nature gives no other superiority.
The honest man prizes his honor
above personal profit; rascals prefer profit to honor.
Among men of honor the plighted
word is sacred.
The prudent man is sparing of
his promises, and faithfully guards confidences.
Don't waste your time. Lost
riches may be regained but lost time can never be recovered.
Defend the abused and make
complaint of, or war upon, the aggressor.
Along life's thorny path the
man should be the guide of his wife and children, and if the husband and father
takes a route over precipices those whom he guides will also fall over.
Woman should not be regarded as
a mere plaything but as the faithful companion that shares with man all the
penalties of life. Her weakness should make her a special care when you
remember that you were born of a woman and recall the mother that brought you
up.
Whatever you would be unwilling
to have done to your own wife, your own daughters and your own sisters, that do
not you do to wives or daughters or sisters of your neighbors.
A man is of no more worth
merely because he is a king, or has an aquiline nose, or is fair-skinned, nor
because he is a priest, calling himself the minister of God, nor through
enjoying great privileges among the fortunate of the earth. The real man is he
who, of tried and trusty valor, does good, keeps his word, and is worthy and
self-respecting. Such an one neither abuses others nor associates with those
that abuse others. Although he may have been brought up in remote mountains and
speaks no other language than his rude mother-tongue, real manhood will know
how to love and cherish the native land.
When these rules of conduct
shall be known to, and observed by all Filipinos, then the sun of our long
longed-for liberty will shine brightly on this favored portion of the earth and
its rays diffuse such inconceivable joy among the united brothers of the same
race that the lives of those who fall and the fatigues and sufferings of those
who survive will be well repaid.
Emilio Jacinto
Reference:
Gems of Philippine oratory; selections representing fourteen centuries of Philippine thought, carefully compiled from credible sources in substitution for the pre-Spanish writings destroyed by missionary zeal, to supplement the later literature stunted by intolerant religious and political censorship, and as specimens of the untrammeled present-day utterances by Austin Craig, page 39-40, University of Manila, 1924.
Gems of Philippine oratory; selections representing fourteen centuries of Philippine thought, carefully compiled from credible sources in substitution for the pre-Spanish writings destroyed by missionary zeal, to supplement the later literature stunted by intolerant religious and political censorship, and as specimens of the untrammeled present-day utterances by Austin Craig, page 39-40, University of Manila, 1924.
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