Name: Coleen Margarette A.

Yare Course and Year: BS Psych-1

Subject: Readings in Philippine History (GEC 12) Teacher: Mr. Kurt Casas

Reflection Paper on “Rizal as a Prophetic or a Conscious Hero”

Ambeth Raymundo Ocampo, a Filipino public historian, academic cultural

administrator, and independent curator, was born in Manila in the year 1961. He is best
known for his definitive writings on the Philippines’ national hero Jose RIzal, as well as
his bi-weekly editorial page column in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Looking Back. In
1985, Ocampo began writing for Weekend Magazine, the Sunday supplement of the
Philippine Daily Express, and later joined its editorial staff as an associate editor. From
1987 to 1990, his column Looking Back appeared in the Philippine Daily Globe, and
compilations of these columns became his two best-selling books, the Looking Back
series and Rizal Without the Overcoat, which won the National Book Award for essay in
1990. Ocampo’s Daily Column was moved to the Philippine Daily Inquirer in 1990, at
the invitation of Letty Jimenez Magsanoc and Eugenia D. Apostol, and now appears
twice weekly on the Opinion-Editorial page. Some of his scholarly works are the
following: Lupang Hinirang: Alay ni Amorsolo (1989), The Juan Luna Collection: A
Bequest to the Filipino People (1990), Looking Back (1990), Makamisa: The
Search for Rizal’s Third Novel (1992) and Aguinaldo’s Breakfast (1993). We can
consider Ambeth Ocampo as a credible source about our national hero considering that
he has published more than 35 books and most of these published works are mainly
focused on the life and the works of the Philippine nationalist and martyr, Jose Rizal.

What I have learned or realized from the article is that what Rizal dreamt wasn’t
just a mere bangungot, although what he dreamt really did happen to him after 14
years. Dream psychologists believe dreams can reveal a lot about our mental health –-
and ignoring the key psychological 'clues' our dreams are trying to tell us could have
negative consequences, and prevent us from addressing anxieties and stresses in our
waking life. There is a 52% chance that your dreams will come true. Most of the things
that were taught to us in elementary and in high school were just the most important or
basic details that we should know about Jose Rizal upon reading the materials that
were provided, it made me realize that history is really complex and one source is never
enough to gather information from for there are many narratives or interpretations or
perspectives of our history unless the source is considered credible and was able to
present authentic information about a certain part of our history. Yes, it somewhat
changed my prior knowledge about Jose Rizal because all I knew was that he was
caught and was directly sentenced to death and him writing Noli Me Tangere and El
Filibusterismo as proof of how badly the Spaniards treated the Filipinos during the
colonization. I never knew what happened moments before his death, I never knew
much details about how he lived his life traveling to different countries, etc. The part of
the article that was the most remarkable for me was the fact that he dreamt about his
future death and how he thought it felt so real until 14 years later, his dream became
real.

References:

Wikipedia contributors. (2022, September 22). Ambeth Ocampo. Wikipedia.

Retrieved October 6, 2022, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambeth_Ocampo

Connor, L. (2021, April 28). Are your dreams trying to tell you something? The

Independent. Retrieved October 8, 2022, from

https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/people-one-mental-h

ealth-b1838711.html