TODAY we commemorate the martyrdom of our national hero, Dr. Jose Rizal. Born in June 1861, he would live to celebrate only 35 birthdays, a short but meaningful life that left a lasting imprint on our nation’s history.
His death by firing squad in Dec. 30, 1896 sparked a revolution and emboldened a generation of young men and women to take up arms and defeat a long-time colonial oppressor.
Rizal’s enduring legacy is not that he penned timeless aphorisms like “the youth is the fair hope of our motherland;” it is the fact that in the face of persecution and certain death, he lived out his words and inspired the birthing of a nation.
As a Filipino, Rizal was without compare. He was a genius of letters, science and arts. He was a reformer who saw that education was the way toward enlightenment and progress. And he was a true patriot whose life and death were offered for his country.
But Rizal’s revolutionary ideals did not revolve around violence and bloodshed. They were about reforms, of the mind and spirit especially. He was Asia’s – if not one of the world’s –first non-violent advocate of political reforms. For this reason, the entire Malay race throughout the region is proud to claim him as their own.
Today we are no longer the servants of any one nation, but many of our countrymen continue to yearn for freedom – freedom from corruption, illegal drugs, poverty, hunger, crimes, fake news.
Let the lessons of Rizal’s life and heroic example spur us – especially the youth – to take action to change the fortunes of this long-suffering Republic.
