EDITORIAL - July 4 or whatever it still means

There was a time when July 4 used to be celebrated as Philippine Independence Day. The baby boomer generation clearly remembers this because they used to take part in the inevitable Independence Day parades when parades were still possible in urban areas.

Independence Day was later moved, correctly, to June 12. But because the Philippines was not quite ready to divorce itself from " Mother " America, the date July 4 was retained as a holiday but renamed Fil-Am Friendship Day.

As the years went on, and as with all relationships, the American connection cooled and thinned out, though it would be incorrect to say soured. Eventually, July 4 was no longer even considered a holiday.

And without the holiday that qualified the celebration, the supposed Fil-Am Friendship that endured the hell of war gave way to newer interpretations of both nationhood and bilateral relations.

The changing of the guards brought in a new citizenry that is too far removed from Fil-Am Friendship to ever understand the flickering sentimental values that try grudgingly to keep it alive from the onslaught of uncaring nonchalance.

Today, Fil-Am Friendship has taken on new meanings, definitions and understandings that vary from person to person regardless of which side of the Pacific he or she may have first seen the light of a new life.

Some may see it with derision, as in the beholding of a mail ordered bride and her stateside catch, pulling in tow the longest retinue of relations one can see on a given day at any American-inspired mall.

Others may see it with inspiration, as in the blossoming of the biggest array of schools offering nursing courses full of Filipinos eager to join the 2,500 or so other Filipinos bolting the country for America and other destinations.

Still others may see it with something tantalizingly close to the original relation born of a brotherhood of shared aspiration, as when American GIs teach our soldiers the modern art of warfare, and yet come away unknowingly from the experience without getting the feeling right.

Frankly we do not know if today is even still Fil-Am Friendship Day, or if it is, whether the thought still accompanies the deed of celebration. Fil-Am Friendship is a strong friendship. It is just unfortunate that the Filipino never has a strong understanding of his real strength.