Arlene Joy S.

Garcia Position Paper

Professor: Yvan R. Gumbao Date: July 3, 2020

“Pearl of the Rising Sun”

Wherever you go in the Philippines, the common question that is being asked in
school or even those people who don’t receive formal education is, “Who is your
national hero?”. Every Filipinos have only one person in mind after being asked, “Dr.
Jose Rizal”. As Filipinos, do we really know who is Jose Rizal or know his value when
we celebrate national heroes day? Sadly, most Filipino nowadays only knows that Rizal
sacrifice himself to set us free from the colonizers. People only have limited knowledge
about him without knowing the very detail of his life and experiences. There are people
who accept Rizal as the national hero but there are also people who go beyond what
they learn at school and dig deeper about the authenticity of Rizal as a hero.

Jose Rizal is known for being intelligent, talented and hardworking. He is known
as an expert in the field of medicine, poetry, he even knows how to sketch, paint and
make a sculpture. According to Ma. Cielito Reyno, Rizal value his time and make god
use of it to improve himself. Aside from that, he learned languages such as German,
(Reyno, 2012). By his talents, physical appearance and intelligence, he experienced
discriminations. When Rizal was in Madrid and acquainted with Pedro Paterno, they
didn’t even invite him to any of their gathering because he cannot afford a dress coat,
(Paraiso, 2012). He is confused why other people looked down on someone like him.
Your abilities, perspectives and thoughts do not depend on your skin color, your race, or
even if your nose is flat, it doesn’t matter at all. He is a representation of intellectual that
firmly believe that no matter what the race is above unreasoning prejudice, (Uckung,
2012). Despite of those hurtful words, Rizal stand firm and he doesn’t let those
negativities affect his perspectives and principles in life.

He inspired many Filipinos not just in his time but up to this present day. He
fought and take a stand resisting the Spanish government. He advocates reforms such
as equality among Filipinos and Spaniards during his time that caught the other Filipinos
and became his followers. This was one of his best contributions in our country during
Spanish era. By those reforms, we will be given the rights and equality that we deserve.
Instead of starting a revolution, Rizal uses his ideas and talents in writing as an
instrument that he is against the rules of Spaniards although he had a revolutionary
idea. He knew that time, that we are not ready to stand on our own or capable to start a
revolution against the power of the colonizer. Fighting for the rights peacefully rather
than intervention of armed weapons was discouraged by Rizal. Instead of using
violence for fighting what is right, Rizal used pen to propagate what was to be done for
our country, (Pineda, 2018). He doesn’t want his countrymen to suffer because of
unpreparedness for a revolution that will not make the Philippines a better country. Rizal
thought that when people is educated and aware of their rights, they will do anything
and strive more to gain freedom. Doing revolution can change the different aspects of
the country such as political, economical, social and even religious aspects. His works
and writings contributed to the revolution during Spanish era. Those are considered as
the foundation of the revolution and he was an inspiration in the Katipuneros during his
time.

Rizal traveled many countries for his education and he wanted to explore and
learn the cultures, laws and government of European country to help his countrymen.
When he visited a country, he has a guidebook in his hand and a pedometer, (Paraiso,
2012). He studied medicine specializes in ophthalmology. His mother is the one who
encourage him since Teodora lost her eyesight and she wanted her vision to be back. It
is hard for Rizal to study medicine abroad since he experienced physical deprivation to
save money for rent and homesickness, (Reyno, 2012). He successfully brought back
the vision of his mother resulting to have many patients that wanted to be treated by
hm. He trained under the expertise of a famous eye surgeon in Paris. As he had his
training, he was impressed by Dr. Louis de Wecker’s skills and Rizal felt his surgical
training is progressing well, (Ravin, 2001). He was able to meet persons that could be
part of his life and help him mold his character. He was able to find persons that he
could exchange his opinions with, his plans, and his writings. Rizal’s experiences
abroad taught him lessons that he could apply or bring to his country. The situation in
abroad is somewhat different from the Philippines since their standard of living is
growing and more modernized.

We inherited Jose Rizal’s great literary works. Even up to this day we learn in
schools about his life and works. It is already a law that all students are required to take
the course and it is called the Rizal Law or Republic Act 1425. By learning his life, we
will able to appreciate have deeper knowledge of Rizal’s sacrifices and his ideals can be
applied in our social and personal issues. Most writers consider this as a way of paying
respect and gratitude to the contributions that he had made for the benefit of our
country, (Piedad-Pugay, 2012). There’s some people including myself that have this
question in mind, “What if this course be remove in the curriculum?”. Many years have
passed when Rizal’s life and works has been taught in school. In my stand, there might
be a possibility that the future generation will have limited knowledge about Jose Rizal.
Abolition of Rizal course is not a wise move for it teaches love of country, love of God,
and love to our fellow countrymen which is the quality of a Filipino, (Corpuz, 2007). It is
an inspiration for us to do our responsibilities as Filipinos and to keep our qualities of
being Filipinos. His writings emphasize on reforms, nationalism, education and how the
lives of Filipinos. He developed consciousness in our country. His famous works which
are the Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo is an eye-opener to the Filipinos about
the situation of the country under the Spanish colonization and considered as a threat to
the Spaniards. The Spaniards were afraid that those novels might reveal their hidden
agenda to the public that can put dirt into their name. Those novels were viewed as a
guiding force for patriots to rally, (Piedad-Pugay, 2012). If you read the writings of Rizal,
you can feel how powerful his words are. He can understand what his countrymen feels
with all the discriminations and the slavery that they experience in the hand of Spanish
rulers. We cannot just mesmerize by his talent in writings but also on how he can catch
the heart of every Filipinos. I can say that Rizal cannot be erase easily in the history of
literature.

To conclude, Rizal’s death has a big impact in the Philippine history. He only live
in a short period of time but he accomplished not just his life’s mission but also his
purpose on his own country. Even when he was young, instead of focusing on playing
with his friends, he already builds a strong foundation for his education and his plans in
the future. He didn’t waste any amount of his time and devoted his life for the country.
By his sacrifices, we come to acknowledge him as our national hero, we always
remember and celebrate his death anniversary. Why we are considering him as our
national hero? Most of the Filipinos believe that he is considered as our national hero
because of the influences that he has created through his writings. Rizal’s biggest
legacy is his love for our country as what he included in his writings and the different
organizations that he joined. His perseverance of leading the Philippines to good,
results in building our nation out of a colonized traditions and customs. He fights the
injustices and oppression of Spanish government may it be in words and actions. There
might be different perspectives on how Rizal should be remembered, he was still a
symbol of freedom and inspiration for the Filipinos that need to take as a model of our
posterity.

References:

Corpuz, R. (2007). Predictors of Relevance of Rizal Course.

Reyno, M.C. (2012). Timeless Lessons from Rizal.

Ravin, T. (2001). Philippine National Hero and Ophthalmologist.

Pineda, L. (2018). Is Rizal Still Relevant Among Millennials?

Uckung, P.J. (2012). The Rizal Retraction and Other Cases.

Reyno, M.C. (2012). Rizal’s Timeless Challenge- To Serve the Nation.

Paraiso, B.A. (2012). Enchanted Rizal Falls for Paris at First Sight.

Piedad-Pugay, C.A. (2012). Rizal and the Revolution.

Paraiso, B.A. (2012). Rizal at 150: In Visit to HK Prison, He Saw Oppression.