Jose Rizal lived a short life but his legacy lived on beyond his times.

More than a century ago he

sacrificed his life to free the country from foreign abusers. He is considered one of the greatest
heroes of the Philippines. Little did they expect that it was the death of Dr. Jose Rizal that would
wake up a nation and start it on the road to revolution. His books served as the eye-opener
about the realities in Philippine society and inspired the revolution that was started by Andres
Bonifacio’s Katipunan. Rizal's works still reflect the problems of the Spanish times--the lack of
education, poverty, and even the struggle between religion and governance.

They say he is no longer relevant, that we can no longer learn from his example. However,
critics can’t be more wrong. Filipinos from all sectors of society, especially the youth, can still
look up to Rizal as someone to emulate in many aspects of life. For Filipinos in general, Rizal is
an excellent example of patriotism. He decided to put promoting reforms for Philippines.

More than a century after his death, Rizal is still very much relevant to present-day Filipinos as
evidenced by his name trending on social media on the 123rd Anniversary of his death. On
December 30, 2019, Rizal, Dr. Jose Rizal, Rizal Day, and a number of variations were tweeted
thousands of times, leading to the hero’s name being placed on the Most Tweeted list as
netizens posted messages, historical notes, photos, and salutes to the brave young hero. For
those who feel like they are just wasting their lives, they should realize that Rizal did so many
things in so little a time. In his short life of just 35 years, Rizal was able to do so much, not just
as a patriot but also a member of a small community, a traveler, a collector of stories, and even
as a ladies’ man. This cannot be irrelevant because Rizal gives a big signature on why our
country is living today in our own. There will always be something in Rizal the people of today
can emulate. There is always something in Rizal for everyone.

The Rizal law has come a long way. After Republic Act No. 1425 aimed at including a study of
the life and works of Jose Rizal in the curricular of public and private schools was approved by
President Ramon Magsaysay on June 12, 1956, teaching Rizal has been mandatory in our
school system. The teaching of the Rizal course in the classroom is intended to awaken the
sense of patriotism and nationalism in every Filipino youth and push them to apply the principles
by Rizal as solutions to present day problems.
However nowadays, when a Filipino is asked what she/he knows about Rizal, chances are
she/he would say that Rizal is the image on the one-peso coin, or that he was the one shot in
Luneta.
I think that the most important thing here is to know first the reason why heroes exist, why there
is a need for them. Not only studying their works and reading it but rather studying heroism to
look beyond heroes’ lives, far into the social circumstances or problems that created them .