Whenever I accomplish writing an article, I can't help but feel great satisfaction and happiness. And I would always think 'Ah! So this is what Dr. Jose Rizal brought us!'.
Dr. Jose Rizal is the national hero of the Philippines. He doesn't wear capes nor have supernatural powers. He doesn’t hold swords or guns aside from his paper and pen. He is just actually a normal and frail human being who loves his country and countrymen greater than himself. He is truly a hero in his noble act.
Filipino during colonization are like birds. Not the one freely flying in the sky, but the bird in a cage. A bird without freedom. That is the kind of life that Filipinos are living before. They may be in their own country but their freedom is taken away from them. My countrymen became slaves in our own country.
That is why I am always grateful for waking up every day. It is because I was able to enjoy the freedom that our ancestors fought their lives for. I am grateful to be born in this era, in which I can proudly say that I am a Filipino citizen and that the Philippines is my beloved country. I am grateful to wake-up even in mid-noon and doesn’t have to worry about the food that I will eat. And most of all, I am grateful that most of the day I can face my laptop and write everything that I wanted to write.
Filipino before don't even have the slightest of the freedom that I am enjoying now. I feel bad for the things that the Filipino experienced in the past but I am very grateful for them in many ways because if it isn't because of their pain and sacrifices then I wouldn’t have the leisure to write anything on this platform. If it weren't for their self-pity and cries then this generation wouldn't be able to hold their head high and feel proud to be a Filipino wherever part of the world they are.
And that is also why I am very grateful for our hero. Because Jose Rizal fought in his own way with everything in his might just for the Filipinos to get the freedom that they deserve. He didn't kill the colonizers, yet he used his intelligence to fight back. He wrote a masterpiece and that is what breaks the chains of colonizations. And even in his last moments, he still shows how deeply he loves his country.
I love writing so much, if you haven't noticed in my previous articles, writing is more than a passion to me. Through writing, I express everything--my thoughts and opinions, my desires and weaknesses, my hatred, my guilt, my happiness, and myself. Writing is one of the benefits of having this freedom now.
Filipino before aren't free enough to speak up their opinions, and aren't even free enough to write their sentiments. Aside from that, not all Filipinos can have the right of education, especially women. Jose Rizal was only given the opportunity since he came from a rich family and he has a colonizer's blood running on him. Other than that, Filipinos are left treated like fools.
And women, they don’t have the right to education since they are only bound to be a housewife, thus, the things that they need to learn are only doing household chores and taking care of their children and husbands. Far different from the women now who love to gain both knowledge and freedom. Filipino women are now smarter, stronger, and more beautiful. The exact kind of woman I wanted to become.
The history of Rizal is part of the curriculum to be taught in college, and knowing Rizal is also knowing the Philippines' history, although fragments of these are already taught during high school and primary years. But the main purpose of this is for the younger generations to acknowledge, respect, and give thanks to the reasons why they are free now. Free to do whatever they like. Free to say whatever they want. And free to write till their heart’s content.
To be able to write means to have knowledge. Writing also requires both knowledge and freedom, and I will be forever grateful to be born as a Filipina who can write.
