FILIPINOS HERO THROUGH PEN

The life of Jose Rizal was heroic and patriotic. He fought for the freedom and the
rights of Filipinos from the hostile hands of Spaniards. His love for his family and for all
Filipinos was immeasurable that he was willing to sacrifice his own life through his
mighty pen rather than to be a coward and do nothing for his country. As what he wrote
in one of the songs of Maria Clara, found in his Noli Me Tangere, Kung dahil sa bayan,
kay tamis mamatay, doon sa kasuyo ang abot ng araw, kamatayan pati ng simoy sa
parang, sa walang pag-ibig, ni ina, ng Bayan.
As I watched the video entitled "ANG BUHAY NI JOSE RIZAL", I have learnt so
many things not only about his personal life but also how he truly loved his own country.
He could have settled in Hongkong with his family and lived peacefully there, but then
he chose to return to the Philippines because his conscience pushed him to do
something in reclaiming the freedom of the Filipinos. That Rizal could not resist living
harmoniously in other country while knowing that his countrymen were suffering from
abused and threats brought by Spanish colonization. So he went home and fought with
the Spaniards not in a bloody way but through his writings. With that I can say that
Rizals pen was powerful than a sword for it even irked the enemies and can do nothing
to stop him because even he was in prison, still his mind and pen was fighting for all the
Filipinos. That because our hero dealt our social problems through his books Noli Me
Tangere and El Filibusterismo, the enemies could not resort to any ways to retaliate but
to kill him. In this segment of the life of Rizal, it only proved that he even in this present
and future generations, he is considered as an ambassador of social justice and
equality. That the Spaniards had no right to abuse and overpower our own rights and
everyone of us should be treated as humans and be respected because we always
deserves our freedom to live in an orderly, peacefully and joyful life away. In fact, in his
open letter, he said "If luck is against me, let everybody know that I will die happy with
the thought that my death has ended all their bitterness. I risk my life with pleasure to
save so many innocent persons who are suffering because of me." These words only
reminds us that we Filipinos should be proud, serve, protect and love our own country.

Presently, even we are acquiring our freedom in our country away from invaders,
still we are facing some social and political problems. First, one of the prevalent
problems in our Philippine Government is the abuse of power by Government officials
that it even lead to graft and corruption and other illegal practices. That because of
greed and overwhelming power, the peoples leaders were in vain of using the countrys
money for their own personal interest although they know that such were the fruits of
labor of every Filipino citizen and not theirs to use. It can be relate during the time of
Rizal where the Spaniards and bad friars, used the government and church in their own
interest and use violence means against the poor Filipinos. I hope Filipinos nowadays
should emulate Rizal in such a way that we also aspire for great change for our own
country by fighting for what is right in a legal and peaceful way. That killing one another
through sword or guns will not do good, instead merely creates a chaotic society. So
how can we Filipinos do it? We must choose a leader who has strong democratic
integrity and good governance, transparency, with God as the guiding light. This
criterion would entail rescuing the Philippines from an economic crisis and abundantly
leading the Philippines towards local and international democratic prosperity and
empowerment.

Second genuine problem in our country is the lack of interest of the Filipino youth
to pursue their studies and aim for their dreams. Instead of studying harder, they are
tempted with youth pleasures and treating their education as an extra activity. Choosing
a hayahay job until such time that they will be jobless because they are selective and
prefers an easy job with no hassle. Unlike Rizal, who has the eagerness in studying to
achieve his goals in order to help his family and give back to his country. Rizal was not
contented in just finishing one degree but he mastered it, read many books, write and
gain more knowledge from different schools and people. He really worked hard, applied
what he gained from school and contributed for the betterment of the society. As young
Filipino youth, we must not only dream big but also work for it, because as the saying of
Rizal goes, Ang kabataan ang pag-asa ng bayan.

Third, the racial discrimination among the Filipinos. Some of the countries treated
Filipinos only as servant or let us say subservient. Many of the Overseas Filipino
Workers (OFWs) were abused by foreign countries and get insulted because they
taught that we are valueless and poor. As Filipinos, we must not tolerate this kind of
injustices, instead we have to stand with our own feet and be motivated by showing
them that we have our own talent, skills and knowledge to be used in order to make our
country progressive and prosperous. As much as possible, Filipinos should stay and
work in their own country, instead of letting other nations prosper more because of our
intelligence and talents. Moreso, every Filipino should think that we are competent and
can make a big difference in transforming our society through our intellect and will. That
helping our country would also mean an unending learning process for us. It reminds
me of Rizals delivered speech in the National Exposition of Fine Arts, wherein he
shared about the universality of genius which means that the genius ability of a person
is not only found to a certain country but it can be found everywhere. But then, our
present situation today, it is a big challenge for our government on how can we
encourage Filipinos to stay in the Philippines, considering that we have low salaries
insufficient to sustain our daily needs.
 Concluding, no doubt that Jose Rizal is our National Hero. His contribution to the
Phillipines, his standard of living and style in fighting for the Filipinos made him as an
aspiration for each one of us. Jose Rizal will forever leave the legacy of the ideals of
freedom and nationalism which is worth imitating, especially for the youth. I know, I
could not be like Rizal in some aspects of his life but I am trying my best to do my small
contributions to my country by doing good things, studying hard and helping others as
much as I can.