Ngayon naiintindihan ko na kung bakit si Dr. Jose Rizal ang itinuturing na pambansang bayani ng Pilipinas. Sadyang napakataliino pala nya talaga. Kung matatandaan nyo, para kasi saken si Andres Bonifacio ang mas nararapat na pambansang bayani.

Si Jose Rizal ay haciendero na taga-Laguna. Si Andres Bonifacio ay batang kalye sa Tondo. Si Rizal pinagpatutor ng pamilya nya tapos ay nag-aral sa Ateneo. Si Andres Bonifacio ay gumagawa ng pamaypay para lang masustentuhan ang pag-aaral nya. Sino ngayon sa dalawa ang larawan ni Juan dela Cruz?

Hindi kasi ako naniniwala na ang Noli Me Tangere at El FIlibusterismo ang pumukaw ng damdamin ng mga Pilipino para maghimagsik. Hindi ba sa Espanyol sinulat ni Rizal yung mga nobela nya? At dahil hindi marunong magbasa ng Espanyol ang normal na magsasakang Katipunero, tanging yung mga nakapag-aral na miyembro lamang ang nakabasa nun.

Dahil sa Rizal COurse ko nung subject ko nung college, para saken si Rizal ay isa lamang babaerong magaling magsulat na doktor sa mata. Hindi naman kasi nabibigyan ng halaga yung essense ng mga ginawa nya nung pinag-aaralan namin sya kasi ang mga tanong sa quiz namin ay kung sino ang babae nya sa ganitong bansa. Yes, name that candidate ng Ms. Universe ang mga babae ni Rizal; kung nung petsa sya namalagi sa Barcelona at kung magkano yung inutang nya kay Pio Valenzuela para mapalimbag ang El Fili.

Pero ngayon napagtanto ko na isa nga talaga syang magaling na tao. Timeless ang mga katagang sinabi nya sa Letter to the Women of Malolos.

About Blind disobedience:
...that it is not goodness to be too obedient to every desire and request of those who pose as little gods, but to obey what is reasonable and just, because blind obedience is the origin of crooked orders and in this case both parties sin...

About having freewill:
...God gave each one his own mind and his own conscience so that he can distinguish between right and wrong. All are born without chains, free and no one can subject the will and spirit of another. Why would you submit to another your noble and free thought?

About believing something of one's reason:
The usual reply of those who want to fool others is this: He who depends on his own reason is arrogant. I believe that more arrogant is he who wishes to subject another’s will and dominate all men. More arrogant is he who poses as God, who pretends to understand every manifestation of God’s will. And exceedingly arrogant or blasphemous is he who attributes to God everything he says and desires and makes his personal enemies the enemies of God. We ought not to depend on ourselves solely. We should seek advice, listen to others and do what we believe to be the most reasonable...

About having one's own stand:
Ignorance is bondage, because like mind, like man. A man without will of his own is a man without personality. The blind who follows other’s opinion is like a beast led by a halter...

About caring for others:
One who wants to help himself should help others, because if he neglects others, he too will be neglected by them. One mid-rib is easy to break, but not a bundle of many mid-ribs, tied together.

About Equality of men:
Men are born equal, naked, and without chains. They were not created by God to be enslaved, neither were they endowed with intelligence in order to be misled, nor adorned with reason to be fooled by others. It is not pride to refuse worship a fellow man, to enlighten the mind, and to reason out everything. The arrogant one is he who wants to be worshipped, who misleads others, and wants his will to prevail over reason and justice.

About personal reflection:
Analyze carefully the kind of religion taught you. Find out if that is the command of God or the teaching of Christ for alleviating the suffering of the poor, for comforting those in pain. Consider everything taught you, the aim in every sermon, the underlying reason for every Mass, novena, rosary, scapular, image, miracle, candle belt, and other things that are forced upon you, dinned daily into your ears and dangled before your eyes, and discover the beginning and their end, and then compare that religion with the pure religion of Christ, and see if your Christianity is not like the milking animals or like the pig that is being fattened, nor for its own sake, but in order to see it at a price and make money out of it.

Wow, parang halos niquote ko yung buong letter. Naiintindihn ko na ngayon why he is considered to be the best among our heroes.

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Yes to Ibarra, No to Damaso

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