Jose Rizal

Bonoan, Raul J. "Jose Rizal, liberator of the Philippines." America 7 Dec. 1996: 18+. Gale Student Resources In Context. Web. 6 Jan. 2011.

"José Rizal." Encyclopedia of World Biography. Detroit: Gale, 1998. Gale Student Resources In Context. Web. 6 Jan. 2011

Fernandez-Armesto, Felipe. "Times and tides." History Today 46.7 (1996): 10+. Gale Student Resources In Context. Web. 6 Jan. 2011.

This is the original cover of one of Rizal's book (http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_nxUb2kYKSvI/Sjrvt1iBGeI/AAAAAAAASMc/fC220aElIaA/s400/Noli+book+original.jpg)

Jose Rizal was determined to have his people free themselves through his words and writings instead of fighting; he was always wise and looking forward as he led his people to independence. He stands by nonviolence but knows it may sometimes be necessary, and his wise words are always well respected as: “Increasingly Rizal warned of separation and independence and alluded to ‘the great law of history’--that colonies eventually declare themselves independent. While Rizal did not categorically rule out violent revolution, he articulated in his second novel a philosophy of nonviolence--admittedly not as developed as Gandhi's. The Filipino people, he said, must be worthy of their liberties and prepare themselves for independence, principally through education and moral regeneration. ‘Only love can work wonders, only virtue can redeem.... What is the use of independence if the slaves of today will be the tyrants of tomorrow?’” (“Jose Rizal, Liberator of the Philippines”) he is like the Slim from “Of Mice and Men” of the Philippines his ideals were always held above the rest since his writings spread of the injustices of the Philippines. He hated how oppressed and beat down they were treated by the Spanish and knew that independence would come as long as they fought for it, but change doesn’t come unless they brought it with their own hands. Rizal continued to search the world for ways he could push his people to bring up independence and when his knowledge was enough he wrote books that pushed the people to bring the revolution because he’s: “What Victor Hugo did for les miserables of France and Charles Dickens for the wretched of London, Rizal wanted to do for the poor and oppressed of his own country. In 1887 his first novel, Noli Me Tangere, was published by a small printing press in Berlin. It diagnosed the Philippines' ailment as a malignant cancer in so advanced a stage that the slightest touch produced the acutest of pains. The title, Latin for ‘Do Not Touch Me,’ echoes the words of Christ to Mary Magdalene in John 20:17. Copies of the novel were smuggled into the country and read surreptitiously behind closed doors or at night by candlelight. The effect was nothing short of cataclysmic. What Abraham Lincoln said to Harriet Beecher Stowe--that her Uncle Tom's Cabin caused the Civil War--may be applied with equal truth to Rizal's novel and its sequel. They set the fires of revolution” (“Jose Rizal, Liberator of the Philippines”) he was considered by his people someone to hope in, someone to carry their dreams as they strive to make his wishes come true. Is that not what a hero is? Someone we can look to and aspire to be more like? This man was a hero that was one who looked at his home, to the world, then back at his home and said that something’s wrong. He used his pencil instead of his sword to push the inevitable change and took full responsibility until the end.

This is the cite of Rizal's exicution on 30 Decem (http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2397/1753164578_86269c2ff1.jpg)

Rizal always wanted the best to others, always kept his ideals in mind, and his courage knew no bounds. Here the man again displays his bravery and defends his beliefs, but more than that he defends his people as he asks: "Does your Excellency know the spirit of (my) country? If you did, you would not say that I am "a spirit twisted by a German education," for the spirit that animates me I already had since childhood, before I learned a word of German. My spirit is "twisted" because I have been reared among injustices and abuses which I saw everywhere, because since a child I have seen many suffer stupidly and because I also have suffered. My "twisted spirit" is the product of that constant vision of the moral ideal that succumbs before the powerful reality of abuses, arbitrariness, hypocrisies, farces, violence, perfidies and other base passions. And "twisted" like my spirit is that of hundreds of thousands of Filipinos who have not yet left their miserable homes, who speak no other language except their own, and who, if they could write or express their thoughts, would make my Noli me tangere very tiny indeed, and with their volumes there would be enough to build pyramids for the corpses of all the tyrants..." (José Rizal, in an open letter to Barrantes published in La Solidaridad, regarding his novel, Noli me tangere) By the way he questions the very foundations on which the government was built displays his extensively rooted in his belief of freedom and rights. The way he uses the ruler’s own words against him by turning the perspective infers that he adamantly stands by his beliefs and that what they said about him is wrong. The way he compares himself to his fellow Filipinos as he portrays himself as the one who speaks for the nation, and how his book does not compare to the number of those who are behind him. When Rizal was exiled for his books and the commotion it spread he never dwelled on his misfortune, he always used his talents to help those around him and: “For 4 years Rizal remained in exile in Dapitan, where he practiced ophthalmology, built a school and waterworks, planned town improvements, wrote, and carried out scientific experiments. Then he successfully petitioned the Spanish government to join the Spanish army in Cuba as a surgeon; but on his way to Spain to enlist, the Philippine revolution broke out, and Rizal was returned from Spain, imprisoned, and tried for false charges of treason and complicity with the revolution. His enemies in the government and Church were operating behind the scenes, and he was convicted. The day before he was executed he wrote to a friend: ‘I am innocent of the crime of rebellion. So I am going to die with a tranquil conscience.’" (“Jose Rizal, Liberator of the Philippines”) He wanted change but never led it he only showed them the way. He always tried to help his people in exile or abroad he always remembered where he came from so he knew where he needed to go. He kept on helping and expanding his talents, never dwelling on what happened but what can happen. By the way he came to term with his fate before the end came, but he wanted to be the master of his own death to show he was unafraid for: “IN THE EARLY MORNING of Dec. 30, 1896, 35year-old Jose Rizal, an indio with strong oriental features but the bearing of a Western intellectual, wearing a black suit and hat, stood erect and calm in an open field by Manila Bay. Ministering to him were two Jesuit priests. Wanting to be master of his own execution, he refused to kneel and be blindfolded. He asked to face the firing squad but was forced by the officer in charge to turn his back. A military doctor took his pulse. It was, strangely, normal. At 7:03 the bark of bullets rent the air. Rizal fell and so, virtually, did Spanish colonial rule.” (“Jose Rizal, Liberator of the Philippines”) This man wrote two books that inspired a nation, he expanded his talents to help those of his home, and now he looked into the face of death and fear and said “I have no regrets, and I am not afraid.” This man spent his short life chasing his dream of showing his home the way forward by the rights of all men to the way that was best for them. Rizal always knew the consequences of his actions, but still kept striving for his dream. That is the difference between bravery and foolishness. Foolishness is when someone dives into something when they don’t know how his actions will affect himself or others, and bravery is when someone knows the consequences of his actions and decides that it is worth the risk. He knew that what he’s going to do will probably end in his death but he knew as long as his home is freed from the tyranny of the Spanish so he took the risk and without fear know that the good will outweigh the bad.