First, there was Floyd’s article written on the occasion of Dr David’s passing. Out of so many, Fr. JayBoy, the U.P, Chaplain, chose it to read on the 40th day.
Then, Floyd wrote me and asked what Dr. David’s views of martial law were. Luckily for me, Dr. David was a participant in the 1984 U.P. Colloquium, “Nation in Crisis”, and it was there that his views found expression. So I transcribed his essay from the original book form into his website.
Floyd asked me then if he could post the essay in his own website, and of course I acceded. Now, for those interested, the entire essay has been uploaded to Floyd’s website www.brownseo.com, together with a picture of Dr. David when he was just a graduate student at Bryn Mawr College, taken inside his laboratory. [Dr. David had just bought a camera with auto-focus (then a new feature) when he passed by Japan on his way to Pennsylvania, and he used this to take pictures of himself at the Bryn Mawr Campus and inside the academic buildings. He had gone on ahead of us by 5 months, so there was no one else to take his picture but himself. Being a new student, he was shy about asking others to take his picture.]
For us, it’s gratifying that FG’s words continue to live on even after he’s gone. While it came as no surprise, it was of course of special interest that FG’s views of a nation in crisis are still relevant 24 years later. I was particularly struck by the passages on a strong president who could, all by himself, alienate his country’s resources to foreign interests. For those who have been following the news lately, the issues of NBN-ZTE, MOA-AD, JPEPA, to name just a few high-profile cases, seem to indicate that the abuse of executive privilege did not stop with martial law, but continues unchecked, almost, to the present day.
For all this, I’d like to thank Floyd very much for his continuing interest in his teacher and his views. I hope that he, and others like him, do not give up the fight, impossible though it may seem, and feel. It may be noted here that one of Dr. David’s favorite songs at that time was “The Impossible Dream”, Ninoy’s favorite song, and hopefully the sentiments haven’t gotten stale, from familiarity:
To dream the impossible dream
To fight the unbeatable foe
To bear with unbearable sorrow
To run where the brave dare not go.
To right the unrightable wrong
To love, pure and chaste from afar
To try, when your arms are too weary
To reach the unreachable star.
This is my quest
To follow that star
No matter how hopeless
No matter how far
Etc.
(I have to find the lyrics for this tomorrow. Meantime, good night to Floyd and everyone.–EPD)
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