Anything under the Sun
Evolution of the Philippine Flag (3)
We are all soldiers of peace. If you are a farmer, your enemy is starvation. Your battlefield is your farm. Your weapon is your plow. If you are a teacher, your enemy is ignorance. Your battlefield is the classroom. Your weapon is the chalk.
If you are a doctor, your enemy is disease. Your battlefield is your clinic. Your weapon is your stethoscope. If you are a lawyer, your enemy is injustice. Your battlefield is the courtroom. Your weapon is the law.
If you are a government employee, your enemy is corruption. Your battlefield is your office. Your weapon is the duty which the law has vested in you. In other words, just do your duty and you are a little hero in your own little office.
How can we be heroes in our own little way? A hero is defined as somebody who responded beyond the call of duty. My example of a hero is Sgt. Calugas of Leon, Iloilo – the only World War II Filipino soldier recipient of America's highest military decoration – the United States Congressional Medal of Honor.
He was a cook in a battery of Philippine Scouts defending Bataan. One time he saw around fifteen cannons at his front no longer operating. He ran in 500 yards of open field under heavy fire by the Japanese.
After he managed to fire these cannons one after the other single handedly because the battery crew were either dead of wounded. This made the Japanese think that all cannons were still firing. The enemy retreated for good and came only three months thereafter with more troops and took Bataan.
Why was Calugas considered a hero? Because – his duty was not to fire the cannons but to feed the soldiers. This is doing some thing beyond one's duty.
In simple words, this is only doing an "extra mile". For example, a janitor is assigned to clean the floor. He sees a stain on the walls which is not part of his assignment. But still he took extra effort to clean that stain. He is doing an "extra mile".
Heroes and saints are similar. According to St. Therese of the Child Jesus, to be a saint in simply doing an ordinary thing in an extra ordinary way. This was echoed years later by St. Josemaria Escriba – the founder of Opus Dei.
So, the best way to honor our Flag is to be little heroes in our own little way everyday. We will have around 80 million little heroes in our country every day and no doubt, we will be on the right way towards progress and prosperity.