Rizal as the Filipinos Paragon to Greatness

Misery. That was what most Filipinos in the 16 th to 17th century thought of
their lives. The Spanish ruled the country like it was theirs, and they treated the
citizens who owned the land so rightly, like scum and dirt. Massive taxes, abuses on
women, inhumane torture and misuse of power and authority prevailed. Where a
seor or a landowner could pass a farmer or his houseboy getting tortured and
whipped to bits without doing anything. A society of ignorance. Of apathy. Of
indifference. And one man from a rich family who couldve just faded into the
background and become like the heartless seors and cold landlords, made a
difference and dared to change it all.
This man, who couldve had a superior and wealthy lifestyle, chose to throw it
all away. He risked his name, his family and eventually, his life in proving that his
country deserves DESERVED freedom. He wrote numerous essays and poems at the
early age of seven. He was a precocious and gifted REDUNDANT child who turned
into a man WHO couldve had a successful career abroad. He was adept
at architecture, cartography, economics, ethnology,
anthropology, sociology, dramatics, martial arts, fencing and pistol shooting. He
even had numerous and beautiful women in his life who wanted to marry him for
they were so deeply in love with him TOO MUCH INFO. But the problem was that he
was more committed and inlove with his country. okaay
This aristocratic gentleman was not perfect, though on the surface he
seemed to be. I mean WTF IS WITH THIS, he lives the high life, he has status, and he
has wealth. Hes what all workers and lower-class men want and aspire to be
DEGRADING! USE PUBLIC ISNTEAD. But this man is not exempt to the fate of the
ones living in this harsh and unforgiving world. His elder sister, Olympia, died in
1887 from childbirth while his younger sibling Concepcion died at the young age of
three. He also had fistfights here and there when he was first sent to school. HERE
AND THERE?This gifted young man became so good in class that he surpassed his
older classmates and so he had to bear the brunt of jealousy of his schoolmates
who told lies about him. He received five to six whippings a day in his open palm.
He also had to deal with the guilt of being the reason why his mother was sent to
jail for about two and half years. I also dont need to go into all the women he had
met in his journeys in which he couldve lived a happy and stable life with. He
couldve had his own happily ever after with a beautiful woman by his side, a
vibrant, young boy at his lap and a home far, far away from the problems of our
country but he didnt. BESH REDUNDANT He walked away from that happy life and
walked towards our dying country. He sacrificed it all, for you, for me, for us. SAPPY
One of the things I wanted to highlight in this essay is that even though this
man encountered more difficulties than any of us would have, he didnt shy away
from it. He didnt dare escape his responsibility. Because he knew what he was
capable of, he knew that the Philippines was in need of saving, and he wanted to be
our anchor, our safeguard.
I know that by this time you might have gotten the point that this man is
intellectually gifted. Even though he is of small size and stature, he was very gifted
in terms of brainpower. And he knew just what to do with that much brainpower.

Being a young lad in those rough times, the choices for having fun are limited. Its
either playing with boys his age or roaming around the dangerous city. For this
young patriot, it was neither. It was writing poems and essays. He loved writing. He
had a gift. And he used it, as an outlet for his emotions and as a weapon for his
country. MEJO OKS
He knew the risks of running around and proclaiming that he wanted change.
He knew that hed be put in the torture chamber for that. So he used what he loved
the most which is writing. He expressed in his two books, Noli me Tangere and its
sequel, El Filibusterismo. He wrote so passionately like he was in the book itself,
going through the same ups and downs the characters were experiencing. He
embodied what it was like to be a Filipino in those times. To be a young maiden and
be raped by a friar, to be a young lad and be tortured for stealing 25 cents, to be
made to work your whole life to pay your debt, to be able to live everyday on a
piece of fish and some salt, to live in a world where you wont blame those who
commit suicide because you want to do the same yourself. Those were the dark
times. And this man wrote like he was possessed. Possessed by the need to prove to
his fellows that they dont deserve to be treated like this. And that they deserved
much, much more. NICE ENDING BOO BEGINNING
This man is what all Filipinos should aim to be. He is a paragon, a role model,
an epitome of what a Filipino should be: loving, determined, brave, strong and
patriotic. Im not saying that we should follow in his footsteps and go to Luneta,
wear a bowler hat and get shot in the back. No. What Im trying to say is that what
this man had risked his life for, is now decaying. This man jeopardized his own self
for democracy but now what he risked his self for, is not being put to good use. Its
being used for implying do u mean imposing? massive taxes, inhumane torture and
misuse of power and authority. Were just going back to old practices! The bottom
line is that we have to follow in this mans footsteps by following the laws he had
died for us to have. By following the law which protects us from abuse and which
this man has had a bullet in his back for.
Who is this patriot you might ask, this advocate for reform, for change? The
epitome of greatness? A man whose sacrifice will be forever remembered? This
mans name is our national hero, otherwise known as Dr. Jose Rizal.

Ma. Sandra B. Sendingan

III- Prophet Zechariah