“I know him!”
Our 7-year old grandson volunteered as he saw a TV report about Jose Rizal.
“Do you know that he is the national hero of the Philippines?” I asked.
“Yah,” he replied but just as quickly, he started to smile and laugh as he pointed out “look at his moustache!”
Centuries hence, to our young apo, Gat Jose Rizal is the man with the moustache!
Ever-present all throughout the Philippines, Jose Rizal is in every town and city in different attire, different poses.
Do our young know/understand why?
Do our young know/understand what, who a hero is?
How do Filipinos, especially the Filipino youth, see Jose Rizal?
His poem, A La Juventud Filipina (To the Filipino Youth) written in Spanish in 1879 when he was 18 and which won first prize in a contest organized by the Manila Lyceum of Art and Literature, is an ode to the Filipino youth as the hope of the motherland.
Here are some excerpts from that poem, in its original Spanish and its English translatipn:
“Alza tu tersa frente, Juventud Filipina, en este día! Luce resplandeciente Tu rica gallardía, Bella esperanza de la Patria mía! (Hold high the brow serene, Youth, where now you stand; Let the bright sheen Of your grace be seen, Fair hope of my motherland!”
A La Juventud Filipina is considered “an inspiring poem that states that the Filipino youth are capable of great heights. It urges the Filipino youth to reach their potential by harnessing their skills and talents for the betterment of our countrymen. It motivates the youth to free Filipinos from ignorance, and to seek freedom and human dignity.”
If only our people, especially our youth, will realize the lessons left by Jose Rizal for them, our people and our country!
He was a very accomplished person, a very good model of diligence, hard work, excellence and commitment.
He was an artist (a poet, a painter, a novelist), a linguist (more than 20 languages?), a medical doctor, an ophthalmologist and more.
He is most remembered for his great love for our people, our country.
The Spanish authorities found him guilty of rebellion, sedition, and conspiracy- convinced that his writings “fatally and necessarily” incited the rebellion which, by 1896, had already become a revolution.”
“At 7 a.m. on December 30, 1896 at Luneta, Manila, the 35-year-old patriot was shot in the back by a firing squad. He hesitated, turned halfway around to face his executioners, and fell on his back to face the Philippine sun.”
His famous works included, among others, Noli Me Tangere, El Filibusterismo, and the Filipinas dentro de cien años (“The Philippines a Century Hence”) which was published in La Solidaridad from October 1889 to February 1890 - an “analysis of the political and strategic situation of the Philippines at the time and into the future.”
To his pupils, this poignant not so known poem –
“We are young...our souls are fresh and pure. But we shall be strong men tomorrow, And will know how to keep our families safe.
We are children now, fearless and brave, Soon, arms and minds calm and serene, We will know how to fight when the time is upon us.”
“I do not write for this generation. I am writing for other ages. On the other hand, the generation which interprets these writings will be an educated generation; they will understand me and say: ‘Not all were asleep in the night-time of our grandparents’.” —The Philosopher Tasio, in Noli Me Tangere.
In his Mi Ultimo Adios (Last Farewell), he wrote:
“Beloved Filipinas, hear now my last good-by!
I give thee all: parents and kindred and friends,
for I go where no slave before the oppressor bends,
where faith can never kill, and God reigns e’er on high!”