Rizal’s Future Today

How relevant is Dr. Jose Rizal to the millennials?

 Jose Rizal’s ideals and their relevance to the youth

 Admiring Rizal without understanding him is a kind of empty nationalism

and blind devotion
Jose Rizal is the original millennial the youth can look up to:

 He lived up until he is 35 years old, a millennial in today’s standard

 He traveled a lot – studied in Spain at age 21 and traveled around the world,
learning something along the way
 He spoke his mind – if he lived in today’s era, he might be a keyboard warrior in
posting his thoughts about society’s ills
 He had a lot of “raket” – a jack of all trades
 He firmly believed that the young people could change the world - for the better
The way José Rizal is celebrated in the Philippines as a national hero finds no
match in the world:

 Shrines and monuments dedicated to his figure are abundant throughout

the archipelago, and his name indicates often the most prominent street or
plaza in town.

 Rizal is a subject in the university as it has become a symbol of Philippine

patriotism.
The way José Rizal is celebrated in the Philippines as a national hero finds no
match in the world:

 Some historians have gained fame and money becoming eminent

"Rizalistas," and there is even a small group of religious believers in
Mount Banahaw called Rizalistas, who claim Rizal is the real messiah.

 Rizal is the favorite among the national heroes, and the best word to call
the relation between Filipinos and Rizal is devotion.
Jose Rizal remains to be the foremost young Filipino citizen, the consummate
hero, the paramount model for all Filipinos.

 Unfortunately, these characteristics are the same reasons why Filipino youth of so
many generations have found it difficult, impossible even, to emulate deeds by no
less than the national hero.

 Rizal has been placed on such a high level that some young Filipinos do not think of
him anymore as a human person whose achievements could inspire.
Jose Rizal remains to be the foremost young Filipino citizen, the consummate
hero, the paramount model for all Filipinos.

 The state of semi-divinity achieved by his figure carries other problems.

 The problem with having him converted into a national hero is that it has resulted in
some unexpected consequences: an exaggerated focus in his life: what I have called
"chismography" about Rizal.

 There is a neglect of what it should be most valued: his writings.

The lack of understanding of Rizal comes, in my modest opinion, because Rizal
was a writer and suffers the irony of being a national hero in a country where
most people do not like to read.

 Sadly, the proliferation of monuments, shrines, and homages have not been
accompanied by a close scrutiny of his writings, which are most often read in
a very shallow and purely nationalistic way.
We want to know if following the Rizal trail can be expected of them:

 All millennials and Gen Zers are within the age bracket that spans Rizal’s cognitive
childhood years to his death at 35.
 Having been born in the 1980s, millennials of today are in their mid-20s and 30s.
Born much later, Gen Zers are today’s children, adolescents, and young adults in
their early 20s.
 Granting that the same standards apply to Filipino youth, we can assume that all of
Rizal’s accomplishments can be expected, if not demanded, from the youth, or at the
very least, their achievements, or lack thereof, can be correlated to those of Rizal’s.
We want to know if following the Rizal trail can be expected of them:

 Today’s younger generation is no exception. In addition to the monumental task of

learning and living by the life and works of Rizal, they contend with the older
generation (aka, titos and titas) who constantly reminds them how overly pampered
they are, how they won’t be able to survive the future, how unprepared they are for
life. As if not enough, they are befuddled with memes like “let’s confuse kids
nowadays.”

 None can be accomplished by further widening the artificial generational gap / we

are all in the same boat.
Padre Florentino’s iconic words (Where are the youth who will enshrine their precious
time, their illusions, and their enthusiasm to the welfare of their native land? – El
Filibusterismo) make it clear that Rizal is pinning all his hopes on the younger
generation.

 But such hopes are gone if our youth waits idly. Yes, Rizal had all the opportunity in
front of him, but unlike most well-off indios of his time, he chose to walk the path
less taken. His ideals are an accumulation not only of formal schooling but also of
education among the very people that needed his help the most.

 We need the youth to realize both societies and not yearn only for the one above.
Such may not happen if we repeatedly tell our millennials and Gen Zers how ill-
equipped they are. As we’ve seen, formal education may not be enough.

 Even if our education system was as ideal as Ibarra’s dream school, we still must
contend with the fact that majority of today’s Filipino children drop out of school at
around age 10.

 Rizal’s real education began when his older brother Paciano decided to send him
abroad not only to study but to look for a solution to the problems menacing their
motherland.
Such may not happen if we repeatedly tell our millennials and Gen Zers how ill-
equipped they are. As we’ve seen, formal education may not be enough.

 Paciano, who was 10 years older than Rizal, is today’s “tito of Manila.” This tito had
all the makings of a true Filipino hero: educated under a progressive teacher (the
Bur in the Gomburza triumvirate), aware of the political, social, and economic
conditions of his country, and a survivor of a very persistent oppressive rule.
We are all aware that Rizal is an advocate of proper education, he reiterated that
Filipinos are in need of proper education, and this education will be the solution to the
problems of our country, and this education will open the mind of the youth that they
are the fair hope of our motherland.
 The youth will only be the fair hope of the motherland if we will give them the
proper education that they deserve, and the education that they need.
 Education will be the solution to the problems of our country. If education is the
solution, then how come it is one of our country’s problem?
They say, today’s youth is different from the youths in the past. Is that the reason why
they are not giving these youth the proper education? Is this the reason why they are
just letting the youth of today to do what they want to do?

 If we think that today’s youth is way more different than the youth in the past,
maybe we should think and mold our youth in a way that it’ll result to a better
youth, to a better country.

 Maybe the reason why our youth is different is because we have our own
shortcomings. Our shortcomings that will result to the youth’s own shortcomings
that will not result to progress.
 Our youth will never be the fair hope of our motherland if we will not teach them, if
we will not mold them. Let’s treat our youth, the way Jose Rizal is treated, he had
his first lesson in their home and it is given by her mother.

 We should keep in mind, that without us it is not possible for the youth to be the fair
hope of the motherland, and without education we will all be nothing.
All our fallen heroes, including Rizal, had longed for their countrymen to live a free
life:

 By this they meant not simply the freedom to choose what to eat or to wear.
Freedom is to be able to eat, to wear descent clothes, to live like a human being.
 To this day, most our population do not have this freedom, which only means
everything we have done is not enough.
All our fallen heroes, including Rizal, had longed for their countrymen to live a free
life:

 Perhaps poverty is the reason why we hate it when our younger peers choose to
wallow in their narcissistic sadness when almost everyone around them have more
reasons to be depressed about.

 Rizal showed us how to be human by seeing life not only through the exclusive
world of one Ibarra but through the eyes of a Simoun, an Elias, a Sisa, a Basilio, an
Isagani.