I was never really drawn to Rizal. Andres Bonifacio, the Silangs and Sakay had stronger inspirations in me. Another bias I had against Rizal was the theory presented by some local historians. According to them it was the Americans who pushed for his becoming our national hero so that the Filipinos will not rebel against them. (I never really read any documents regarding this theory till now *grin*). However everything changed when I got hold again of Rizal's El Filibusterismo reading it with intent and understanding. Then I watched the movie Rizal, which sealed him in my nationalistic heart and soul. It questioned my Filipino identity. It questioned my contributions to the motherland. He knew how to use the sword and I guess he knew also how to shoot the gun. Yet what caused fear and trembling to those in power were the books and articles he wrote. The man behind the pen was feared more than the men behind spears and bolos. As I see it he had a far reaching approach to "la libertad" of the country than those pockets of rebellion in the countryside.
I was just wondering what if Rizal did not die? Well, the thing is he died. Lets just leave it that way. I firmly believe that our land is blessed. That we will continue to have men and women who will be blessing our land. I may not be a hero in the grandest scale. However the little contributions of goodness I share is enough reason for my heroes to smile. I may not fit in the shoe of Rizal (in my dreams) but I won't stop living the dreams he had for me. Just like my hero, Jose Rizal, I will leave this earth "puro indio".
Speaking of Indio Puro, Rizal wrote his novels in Spanish but he also wrote in his novel, El Filibusterismo, what he witnessed in regards to the usage of Spanish in the Philippines by the natives, he wrote:
ReplyDelete"Spanish will never be the general language of the country , the people will never talk it , because the conceptions of their brains and the feelings of their hearts cannot be expressed in that language — each people has its own tongue , as it has its own way of thinking ! What are you going to do with Castilian , the few of you who will speak it ?"
Yet so many of us still want to believe that at one time, Spanish was spoken everywhere in the Philippines.
Quezon too spoke before the congress in the United States regarding the disqualification to vote of the Philippine natives who were not Spanish speakers because excluding speakers of only native languages would mean only 15% of the whole Filipinos could vote. Copy of the book can be found in the website Hathitrust.org
THE FILIPINO PEOPLE ASK JUSTICE SPEECH OF HON. MANUEL L. QUEZON OF THE PHILIPPINES IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES -FEBRUARY 13 1913