Our national hero Jose Rizal has been developing his national consciousness at a young age.

One of them is when the three priests are executed because they are falsely accused of a traitor.
This event angered Paciano, Jose Rizal’s older brother, by the brutality of Spaniards. Paciano
opened Jose’s eyes and taught him to carry the love and justice for our country when he went to
college. During his college years, he studied hard and achieved many awards. He also faced
hardships, for example, when he was slapped with a sword by a Guardia Civil because he didn’t
recognize him. Paciano also encourages Rizal to study abroad to observe life there and initiate a
campaign for reforms in the Philippines. In Spain, he did not stop seeking knowledge. He reads
and writes and published articles for a newspaper based in Manila. He met many Filipinos that
led him to join and create groups such as Circulo Hispano Filipino, Los Indios Bravos, and La
Solidaridad. In Rizal’s novel Noli Me Tangere, he writes of a past that is not past, borrowed from
Faulkner. The novel shows the cruelties and abuses of friars that use the church as their power.
His novels awakened our national consciousness and inspired us to value education.
The growth of Rizal’s national consciousness has inspired me very much. The hardships and
trials Rizal faced did not make him surrender to pursuing freedom for our country. These
hardships he faced made him stronger and braver. His mother wants him to stop studying
because pursuing higher education will suffer a tragic fate, but Rizal did not stop. He never stops
learning, and he uses it as a weapon to fight for our country’s freedom. In Rizal’s growth, I
learned that we should not be afraid of speaking out and fighting for our rights. We should
practice this more to lessen or even remove the problems in our country.
The colonization of the Spaniards has shaped Rizal’s national consciousness. Education helps
awaken Rizal’s nationalism and fight for our freedom against the wickedness of the Spaniards.
His works inspired many Filipinos to fight for their freedom and break away from the abuses of
the colonizers. It is essential to teach Rizal’s growth of national consciousness in today's time
because it will be beneficial to the youth. It will inspire us not to be afraid to speak out our
feelings about our country and make us braver to fight against people in power that use their
dominance in the wrong way. These lessons from Rizal will also encourage our youths to value
education. We should be severe in our education because it will benefit our everyday lives.
In conclusion, many things happened in Rizal’s life that made his national consciousness
grow. His national consciousness inspired the Filipinos to break away from the abuses of the
Spaniards. His education also plays a vital role in attaining and growing his national
consciousness. Rizal realized how cruel the Spaniards, especially the friars are to the early
Filipinos. The experience of Rizal developing his national consciousness should inspire us, the
youths today. We should take our education seriously, and we should not be afraid to speak out
about things that can lessen the problems in our country.