Evangelista, Andre Chazz S.

2:30 – 3:30 PM MWF GR454MC August

26,2019

Jose Rizal: The Best the Filipino can be

The article titled “Jose Rizal: The Best the Filipino can be” written by Conrado
de Quiros is about the true potential of the Filipino indios shown by our national
hero, Dr. Jose Rizal.

The article starts with a comparison between Jose Rizal and Andres Bonifacio
and how the Americans preferred Jose Rizal to be the national hero because of Jose
Rizal’s much more peaceful methods of rebellion and his accomplishments. Jose
Rizal was an extraordinary Indio, for he excelled in many things and how he was
becoming the first true-blue Malay Renaissance man. The nature of Jose Rizal’s
writing was protest. The core of his writings was affirmation of the Filipino. During a
time that produced exceptional satirist, Rizal stood above everyone.

Leon Ma. Guerrero called Rizal the “First Filipino,” because Rizal presented to
everyone the best that the Filipino could be. He did not just write about how things
were in his time, but he wrote about the past and the future. He wrote about the
future of an enlightened Filipino and the Filipino race that is free, prosperous, and
wise.

The highlights of what I have read for me is the statement, “Rizal’s whole life
was revolutionary in the extreme; his very being was subversive in the extreme. He
represented the one thing the Spaniards hated, and feared most- a proud and
capable indio,” For me it’s says more about Rizal, and his influence even to this day.
His life became the inspiration for every Filipino wanting to do better things for the
betterment of the Filipino people. Moreover, how we Filipinos are more than capable
that what we are told so. Rizal was a living proof and became the standard for
greatness for the future Filipinos.
 Until now, Rizal to me was just a national hero because of how he sparked a
revolution and being the accomplished man that he is, is a great role model for the
young Filipinos. Now I have come to realize that Rizal was not just an educated indio
or just an optometrist or a writer, he was a glimpse from the future of what Filipinos
can become. He became the vision of what a Filipino can become when we broke
free from our chains of oppression and years of mistreatment.