A Chance for the Rise of the Philippines?

Is there a chance for our country to rise someday? This query has always mingled in my mind as a student and as a Filipino. Why do I ask myself this question? Being a proud Filipino could be a good answer. However another question comes to me and it is, Is being a Filipino really something to be proud of? I am truly eager to find out.

Filipinos were so passionate that we did our best to free ourselves from the tyranny of the Spanish government and even the Japanese invasion. We faced endless battles just to achieve the freedom we are fighting for. Somehow, all these hardships gave a very free and democratic place to live in. We are now living in a country where anyone can express himself freely which gave us a very simple yet happy life. On the bad side, this freedom was abused. You can see mountains of garbage piled up in obviously improper places.

The History of My Name

My given name is Ryu Raphael with my last name falling under the family of Calderons.  If you have ever wondered why I had such a quite peculiar name, then reading this may answer your question. I was born on the twentieth of November 1994 and became the youngest of the four siblings. That time, the Streetfigher-a famous fighting game made by the Japanese, was a big hit along with the cartoon heroed by four mutated turtles-Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Ryu 

Raphael

 In fact, my brothers are the ones responsible for giving me the names Ryu, who is the main character of Street fighter, and Raphael who is a ninja turtle wielding a pair of sai as his weapon. They have said that it would be interesting to give someone a very unique name if you are a Filipino. Thus, I had to live with this name granting me no choice but to proudly accept it. However, to tell you honestly, I first felt so annoyed with my name especially when other people say it in the wrong way. Of course not all people are familiar with the root of my Japanese name so it leads to them speaking my name in a more odd way. To tell you such is when they call me R-yu or Rayu. There was even a time that I am supposed to be awarded for an achievement in our school. Our own principal, announcing the deserving achievers to all the students, said "Ru" when she tried to say my first name. I guess anyone would be annoyed if others say your name the wrong way most of the time. That was when I was in elementary. When i step into the high school life, I became interested in Japanese art called anime. With my interest in Japanese culture and my talent in drawing, I became hooked in this field of art. As I became familiar with anime series, I desired of going to the country itself. This led me to becoming proud with my name which best describes my interest. In addition, I have researched that the Japanese word Ryu if translated literally into English, stands for "dragon" which therefore adds to its uniqueness.
Now I am not only proud of my name because it resembles to my interest but also it was the name given to me by my beloved family.