By Rado Gatchalian
(19 June 2021, Rizal’s 160th birthday)
Rizal is everywhere but nowhere.
Public historian and writer Professor Ambeth Ocampo has often emphasized this critical statement that Filipinos almost know Rizal but no one reads his novels. It seems to appear that the works of Rizal such as the Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo are no longer relevant. The stories of these two novels no longer enjoy the pinnacle of modern age of computer, information technology, and social media.
But history still becomes relevant because people never learn from the past.
The injustices and abuses suffered by Sisa, Crispin, and Basilio in Noli Me written in 1887 are still experienced by Filipinos of today who have to suffer the same abuses by the corrupt people in our society.
As we dig the works of this hero, we hope to find treasures that will still be valuable for everyone and our society. But to dig requires our will to endure pain. We need to read a lot and reflect. Only through this digging are we able to extract invaluable truths and lessons that transform us as people who contribute to society.
Rizal’s misfortune is that he left great volumes of literary works and letters to a nation who does not read.
Because Filipinos do not read, our country does not progress as a reflective society.
Rizal’s writings will help us to know who we are as Filipinos. It is only through knowledge and education that we can be free as a nation.
By reading his works and books about him we are reminded why Rizal was against Bonifacio’s Revolution. He wanted our country to be free, but he knew that we were not yet ready at that time. Rizal wrote “Countrymen, I have given proofs, as much as any one else, of desiring liberties for our country, and I still desire them. But I made them conditional on the education of the people so that by means of learning and work they would have their own personality and make themselves worthy of such liberties.”
It is only through freedom from ignorance can we truly be free. He affirmed in his Noli that liberty is useless when the slaves of today will be the tyrants of tomorrow. Thus, Rizal as a reformist wanted a “reformation” in the values and hearts of the Filipino people. Because when Filipinos are corrupt our country suffers the same fate of slavery. We become slaves from the powerful elites and corrupt politicians in our country. We are no longer slaves from foreigners but from own brothers.
As we look at the statue of Rizal may it gives us precious moment to think. To think deeply about our nation through history and reading. Rizal is a great thinker and voracious reader. He is the perfect model of an enlightened being. The only way to escape from the shadow and chain of poverty and injustice is through education that gives eternal light.
We are only free when our minds are free. Our country is only free when everyone is willing to embrace truths. Truth will make us free.
Rizal is irrelevant because the people remain ignorant.
But Rizal is more than relevant because he is the soul of our nation. When we know him, perhaps, we will learn to know who we are as a free country.
Make Rizal be found everywhere and most particularly in the hearts and minds of the Filipinos. Then, Rizal becomes truly relevant to everyone.
Rado Gatchalian is member of Knights of Rizal, Northern Sydney Chapter
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