GARVIDA, CHRISTIAN

“To the Young Women of Malolos”

This letter that was written by Dr. Jose Rizal is a wakeup call to the young women of Malolos. I have
learned some lessons that can be used in some educational matters.I have also learned from this letter that
women particularly in Malolos were not as competent as the women these days. The women then were
not aware of their rights and abilities to do something or to refuse in doing something that other people
told them to do. The women of Malolos back then are obedient to the priest who are not really doing what
they are preaching. The priests, in the other hand, back then were the people who were not doing what
they were telling the people to do. This is a letter that tells the women of Malolos to be aware that they
were the key to a brighter future for the reason that they are the ones giving birth to a man that can change
the world. In this letter Youth was also described as a flower-bed that is to bear rich fruit and must
accumulate wealth for its descendants. Jose Rizal also encouraged the women to be reasonable and to be
open eyed because they are the first to influence the consciousness of man.
Women are also being compared to women in other places like Europe and America, where Rizal stated
that because women there are free and well-educated and endowed with lucid and intellect and strong
will. A people, according to the letter, that respect women like the Filipino people must know the truth of
the situation in order to be able to do what is expected to it.
The women of Sparta was also used to serve as an example and the author gave some of their
characteristics. One of the characteristics that have been mentioned is bravery. Bravery that a Spartan
mother would not ask if his sons were killed in the war or not, rather she would ask if the war was
victorious. The equality of man, likewise is also mentioned, because according to Rizal God did not
create a man to be slave; nor did he endow him with intelligence to have him hoodwinked, or adorn him
with reason to have him deceived by others.
These are the things that I have learned from this letter that contains the desires of Jose Rizal.
 Return to the Primitive

The Return to Primitive says the folk dances and the folklore of the ancient Filipino must be given a place
of honor in the curriculum of schools. This letter talks about the lives and culture of the first Filipino
people.
What I understand in the letter is that in order for us to really understand the present and to be able to get
ready for the future is we must first need to know our history. And according to the letter only those who
truly love their own country and people- their tradition, history and density can develop a sincere interest
in, and admiration for, the traditions, history and density of other countries and peoples. Truly we must
first need to understand and live in our own country before learning and understanding others.
There can be no objection to any movement that shows the indigenous culture we have in the Philippines
even before the coming of the Spaniards to acquaint the youth with the history of the country. But we
must make sure that their only goal is just to know the past for them to be able to move without hesitation
and fear to the future, because the world is moving and we must move with it. We the Filipino people
must be aware that we have a past that we can be proud of and a future that is well connected to the past.
Our strength is derived from the past and can be used to make a bright future.
There are two things that Filipinos can be proud of their Christian civilization and their democratic form
of government. We must know something about our history to be able to understand our future, that I
think is the reason why it is entitled return to the primitive.
 The Greatest Men

The greatest man who are chosen by Michel de Montaigne is Homer.

The author emphasizes that it is chiefly from Homer that Virgil derives his inspiration, that he was his
guide and schoolmaster. The Illiad that Homer had made has provided both body and matter for the great
and divine Aeneid. Being blind and poor, Homer lived before science. His creation of the most excellent
work it was possible to produce was against the order of nature. In him the infancy of poetry and several
other sciences is mature, perfect and accomplished. His famous works includes the story of Helen of Troy
and his wars even if these never took place. Even children nowadays know who Hector and Achilles are.