“VENERATION WITHOUT

UNDERSTANDING”
Upon reading the title of the article “veneration without understanding”, a lot of
questions already popped up on my mind. Why is the title named like this? Who is Renato
Constantino pertaining to? And what could be the message that Renato Constantino
wants to instill on the minds of his readers. To help me answer this question, I first
decided to read a little background about the author of the article- Mr. Renato
Constantino. The title of his article was already intriguing but what intrigues me the most
is when I read that he is known to be a part of the “leftist tradition of Philippine
Historiography”. From this information about him that I read, I already have a clue on what
could be the article all about. I also read some of the articles and books that he has also
written and from these, I can conclude that Renato Constantino is a very vocal and great
historian.

In the first part of the article, Renato Constantino sounds like he was questioning
the becoming of Dr. Jose P. Rizal as a national hero or does Dr. Jose P. Rizal even
deserves to be recognized? Growing up, all I know about Jose Rizal is that he wrote
several literatures which led to the revolution. He was always compared to other Filipino
heroes who fought into a bloody battle for our nation’s freedom like Andres Bonifacio. In
fact, on almost every debate, you could hear the topic “who deserves to be the national
hero: Dr. Jose P. Rizal or Andres Bonifacio”. However, if you’ll look into it, it could be an
unnecessary and useless debate because at the end, there is no such law that proclaims
an official National Hero. It was the Americans who referred to him as a national hero and
used him as a model and what other should also do- to study and develop their skills so
that they will not thought of being aggressive against the Americans. Because of this, I
believe that Renato Constantino was right when he said that many of the Filipinos
idolizes, respects and honors a hero without even deeply knowing why. If I would
compare it to our situation as a student, it is like studying without knowing why you’re
studying which would lead to studying without a purpose. However, on the other hand I
am disagreeing to the thought of removing the honor and credits to Dr. Jose Rizal as one
of the man behind our freedom because I believe that however small or big his actions
are, he still did his part as a Filipino. He may be proclaimed by the Americans as our
national hero but it was still the Filipinos who embraced and appreciated the works of
Rizal for they seen his compassion and love for the Filipinos and the whole country.

Moreover, when we are talking about revolution and freedom, we always attribute it
to Dr. Jose Rizal and as said in the article, “The Philippine Revolution was overshadowed
by the omnipresent figure and towering reputation of Rizal”. Aside from this, you can even
see Rizal and his name anywhere. On coins, schools, streets and parks. This could be
the reason why many people looked up to him without knowing why and what is his real
story. The author also pointed out in the article the refusal of Dr. Jose Rizal on making a
move against the conquerors and to plan a revolution. It was because he thinks that the
Filipinos are still not ready that time. Some may think that Rizal belittles the Filipino
because of his refusal of revolution but I agree to one of Rizal’s saying “Mapaglilingkuran
lamang natin ang ating bayan sa pamamagitan ng pagsasabi ng katotohan gaano man
kasakit ito”. In my opinion, his refusal of revolution does not mean that he is against
independence and didn’t want the Filipinos to have freedom because he once said that
the Philippines will become a powerful nation upon independence. This means that he
also is actually foreseeing freedom it is just that the Filipinos are still not ready at that
time, for they had no weapons and firearms to use.

In general, I believe that Dr. Jose Rizal deserves the honor and recognition that he
received in the past and is receiving in the present time. We cannot deny the fact that his
works helped us get the freedom and independence that we’re enjoying now. His death
sparked a revolution to overthrow the tyranny. As said in an article that I’ve read, Rizal
and Bonifacio can be considered as “partners” since Bonifacio was inspired by the works
of Rizal to fight for independence. Rizal planted the seeds and Bonifacio watered it.

Our knowledge about Dr. Jose Rizal was very limited and maybe this is the reason
why many Filipinos do not appreciate him and his efforts back then. The textbooks and
the school only taught us a little information about Rizal and some of it was the following:
Rizal is a “chickboy” for he had a lot of lovers. Rizal is a very intelligent man. Rizal fought
silently unlike other heroes. If a person is not into reading about history, he may not be
able to fully know Dr. Jose Rizal and he’s participation on our fight for our freedom.
However, we cannot blame these people because in the first place, most of his works are
not easily available and cannot be easily understood without deep analyzation. Renato
Constantino dares his reader to always think critically when talking about history which
includes the known heroes of our country. However, this could be hard for most of us
since most of Filipinos are deprived of knowledge and education. The information that
people know are very limited especially here in the Philippines that education is a
privilege. Additionally, the current education curriculum somehow lacks on giving
importance on educating the students about our history, the Philippine History. This could
be the reason why the Filipinos are just agreeing on what the textbooks are saying
instead of knowing what is true.

Just like any other people, Dr. Jose Rizal deserves to be honored for doing his
best at that time. We cannot deny the fact that his legacy lives on until in today’s time.
However, it’s just frustrating that the number of his monuments, statues and name all over
our street is not equal to the amount of knowledge that we have about him. We just know
him through his name, face and little description about him but we are not able to fully
understand his life as a whole. I believe that we should pay him a tribute and one way to
show honor to him is through reading his work and getting to understand his powerful
prose and enthralling ideas. Being brave that time was not easy and I believe that Rizal
was as brave as the other heroes. They all did their best at that time to fight for our
freedom. Each one of them had an important role on achieving our freedom this is why I
believe that with or without weapons they are all equal and they all deserve to be
respected and honored.

Whether to honor Rizal or not should not be a question at all. He may not be the
perfect example that every one of us should follow but he himself showed to each of us
what kind of mindset we should have. Let us remember him for his ideals, value for
education and his desire for independence. We should develop within ourselves the same
fervor Rizal had for our country. As a youth and the future of our country, I believe that we
should continuously follow the advocacies of Dr. Jose Rizal- to protect our rights and
sovereignty while loving our country whole heartedly.