Embracing Rizalism as a Way of Life
Jose Rizal, a hero!
Many of our youth today equate Rizal, the hero with martyrdom, death!
Being a hero isn’t “cool”, this is for “freaks”. Jose Rizal is no longer “in”.
Distinguished members of the board of judges, ladies and gentlemen –
I don’t have to go into detailed account of dates, places and people in the biography of Pepe. No!
All literate Filipinos start their lesson in history with the stories of the boy from Calamba, Laguna.
Rizal lived his life in an extraordinary way.
I don’t need to make a deep analysis of his ideas in education, philosophy, religion, politics, human behavior, ethics, in society. No, I leave that to the scholars.
What I choose to talk to you about is how I could live my life today with a little piece of Rizal in me.
Yes, I have to be in my own little way a mirror of what Rizal envisioned of every Filipino.
The youth is the hope of the fatherland. This is no longer a statement. It has become a challenge.
Let us start with the simplest question.
If you are to choose between Cadbury chocolate or any other Swiss chocolates and the most popular Filipino brand, which would you choose?
Chocnut, Nips, Cloud 9? “Yucky”, “cheap” or even “wa class”. We do not trust our local brands, we do not trust our fellow citizens, we do not love our own. This is not being a Rizal…
Rizal recognized clearly the social evils that hindered Filipinos to excel. Inferiority complex, cowardice, timidity, false pride, pervade the Filipino consciousness and contribute to the decay of the society.
Today, our country is suffering from both physical and moral degradation. The tremendous problems have made us become too critical, disgusted, indifferent, hopeless. Where do we go? Do we just have to give up?
“Cursed be those who have left my beloved homeland bleeding and torn…” says the Non- revolutionaries, a good short story I once read.
This is not being a Rizal!
Today, our country needs Filipinos who will live their lives in a “Rizal way”.
Today, our country needs people who have the will to make Rizal happen once more in our times.
Today, our country needs people who are persuasive and decisive to adopt Rizalism and to nurture it as an integral part of their person.
Today, our country needs people who have the strength to complete and expand the works and wisdom of our Jose Rizal.
Next, as Palma tries to give a quick biography of Fray Gomez, he says, “Fray Gomez performed miracles left and right in my land.” What a peculiar way of phrasing a religiously significant, Sainthood-worthy event—using the term “left and right” in the way a sports announcer would describe Stephen Curry,
He worked hard for every part of life he earned as an Italian-American in the early 20th century. His life would pave the way, quite literally, for millions of Americans, including my father. My father is a proud American who works everyday to sew his own piece of cloth into the fabric of history this nation wears. A famous Italian- American songwriter, Bruce Springsteen, writes, “There’s diamonds in the sidewalks, the gutter’s lined in song.” In a way, he was right. There are riches to be had but only if one chooses to see all of the potential in the settings around himself and put in effort. My great-grandfather knew this and chose to forge his own destiny. A destiny many immigrants strive toward
America was founded, and has been very successful because of people like Ray, who want to leave their backgrounds or use them to learn from them in order to better their lives in the future; the kind of people that will do anything, whether it is leaving their homeland for a foreign soil in search of a new life and freedom, or tackling the boy with the football. Things have been changed, invented, and made better by people that will not take no for an answer.
Life is like a game of blackjack where we unknowingly are dealt good or bad cards. This unpredictability makes it difficult to gamble decisions. Unfortunately many factors can lead to the bad card where in both the game and life, people are trying to prevent us from achieving the goal. There are two choices to change the outcome however, we may either give up (fold) or we may take a chance (call). The beauty of taking the risk is that if lucky, life gives you that much-needed card. When dealt that winning card, a person is immediately uplifted. That one good hand drives a person to outweigh the pros from the cons and continue to strive for the winning pot or in this case, the goal in life. Enrique in Sonia Nazario’s “Enrique’s Journey,” is dealt both the good and bad cards in life, as he undergoes a battle of being pushed internally to continue while also being pulled externally to quit, thus leading him to unearth himself as a worthy human being while on the journey to the U.S; sadly however, his arrival in the U.S refutes what he clearly envisioned for himself.
Senator Albert Beveridge, a progressive Republican who wants to annex the Philippines. The Philippines would be the United States stepping-stone into Asia and give the Unites States a reliable and needed source of goods. Alongside the vast resource of the Philippines the United States could spread its vast knowledge to a barbaric culture. Though the Senator wants to help the Philippines by going into foreign land change the foundation of the people, try and fit the people into a mold and call them respectable people. Especially when a leader, Emilio Aguinaldo, are willing to fight to the death to free themselves of occupation.
In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century the cultural and societal foundations were laid for the newly formed nations of the America. Both José Enrique Rodó and Jose Marti made large contributions to the development of Latin America through their literature. Both sought to improve and encourage the people of The America’s, however it is Jose Marti who truly succeeds in inspiring a national pride in his writing Our America.
Chino had since graduated from high school and didn’t know which route he was going to take next. Chino met an up and coming lawyer by the name of Edwin Nazario. Nazaio was trying his hardest to convince Chino to become a lawyer as well and told him that he had thought of a plan for “Spanish Harlem”. Nazario and Willie Bodega, a big time drug dealer, had greater intentions with community of “Spanish Harlem”. They wanted to create a group of Hispanics that have gone to college and got a degree to take of the neighborhood. This professional group would create a bright future for the community through education and it would elevated them being taken over by the Caucasians. Willie Bodega had of course being on the other side of the track for a while but he wanted to take the drug money earned and put back into strengthen the community. Of course no one in the community condoned the things that Bodega did, but the were in agreement of strengthen the community through advance education. Building a professional building that provide classes for law, medical and political science activity provide more educational asset to the community. Nazario also wanted to expand Chino horizon by taking him to Spanish museum to continue to instill in him how important it is to continue to strength the Spanish
Failure and fear are known to discourage countless numbers of people throughout society, and has stopped many dreams from being achieved. Yet, there are still a few number of people in society who contain and/or are able to maintain a capacity of determination thriving inside of them, helping them to strive for their deepest desires. Those type of people are inspirations, for example, Rudy and Malala are two inspirational figures determined for their separate reasons. In the allegorical film, Rudy and allegorical story, Jonathan Livingston seagull, determination was one of the keys to reaching their goals and the only way to make their dreams come true is to work relentlessly with the support to never give up.
Cuban revolutionary, Jose Marti protested law from Guatemala to Spain. His visions of how society should be, changed both literature and politics everywhere. One of his most famous works, “Our America” gave people insight to his ideal view of society.
“A leader sees greatness in other people, he nor she can be much of a leader when all she sees is herself” words of an author, poet and Civil Rights activist Maya Angelou.
The book demonstrates that immigrants encounter people of good will and bandits in their pathway. Also, sometimes people who have less economic possibilities are more willing to help others. Some people, from small towns, are friendly. In this case, they offer a little bit of money to Enrique, but maybe it is enough for right now to reach a new destination.
Nazario, Sonia. Enrique's Journey. New York: Random House Trade Paperbacks, 2002 . N. pag. Print.
Rosenburg, Alyssa. “What Gabriel García Márquez taught us about literature, journalism and history” The Washington Post. 18 April 2014. Web. 21 April 2014.
Cocoaland Holdings Berhad is a money investment company. It was established on 8 October 2004 and the founder is Dato’ Azman Bin Mahmood. Besides that, this company is located in Rawang, Selangor. Moreover, it also is a main market for consumer product industry. They sell chocolates, wafers, soft drink, nuts, jelly, fruit gummies, jelly cups, crackers, hard candies and etc. It also distribution of various kinds of beverages, import and export other products such as gummies, trading and preserved foods and foodstuffs in Indonesia, Malaysia and the People’s Republic of China.
Just like what Dr. Jose Rizal mentioned, “It is just fair if the Spaniards will govern our nation as long as it can help to improve and enhance our capabilities to be a progressive ...