They run on parallel tracks
By Rex Catubig
AFTER the project launch for the restoration and revitalization of the old PNR Train Station, skeptics were quick to raise the issue of priority. “Bakit yan ang ginagawa, wala namang pakinabang ang tao diyan?”
Coming from residents of the city who profess love for and loyalty to their place of birth, it is dumbfounding. Yet, it is understandable, as it is probably an offshoot of their frustration in a burgeoning city. Beset with challenges, one gets overwhelmed and loses his coping mechanism –in the process negating anything that from his perspective detract from the issues and concerns of everyday living.
But the simple truth is: one does not negate the other. In fact, they reinforce each other. Keeping our cultural and historical heritage alive should work in harmony with the task of managing the challenges of a bustling city by the river.
“For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world, but loses his soul?”
Commerce and industry determine a community’s progress but it is culture that determines the quality of that progress.
Culture and commerce run on parallel tracks.
Our historical and cultural heritage defines us as uniquely and distinctly Dagupeños. It is the soul of our being. Take that away or disregard it and we are no more than “clanging cymbals”.
We need the blessing of our fellow Dagupeños to give this fledgling excursion into our storied past that is a journey to its future.
This endeavor should not be looked at as a frivolous diversion of aging Jayceekens. It is a noteworthy advocacy deserving support and cooperation.
All because it is a legacy of a lifetime. Of the kind of life that made Dagupan what it is today.
Even if floodwaters would one day sink Dagupan, we can always look back at the time when the royally decreed Ferrocarril de Manila-Dagupan brought commerce, culture, and the nobility of heroes into our coastal city. And the PNR Train Station would stand tall as the unsinkable testimonial.
Let us not begrudge the next generation its historical root and cultural identity. It’s all we can proudly bequeath them.
That much we owe them.
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