Reflection on Venediction Without Understanding

Christine Faith G. Yap 13 June 2011
BEEd 2 EDC

Reflection on Veneration without Understanding

If I were one of the Filipinos before, Rizal’s action would lead me to doubt him as a Filipino who really loves his country and fellowmen. A real Filipino citizen would not want to be colonized. They would want to have a country of their own that is led by one of their fellowman. I would think that since he is educated and is already one of the ilustrados, he would not care for those classes lower him because he is already living a nice and decent life. But because majority of the Filipino was not educated, they could not see what Rizal wanted for all of them. They could not see what he was planning for our country and they did not see how it could benefit all of them, including the indios. Rizal is really intellectually excellent. He did not want to be separated from Spain because he knows that we can greatly benefit being a part of the country of Spain as a province. All of the indios will not be looked down since their rank will be elevated. If Spain has given us good education and better attention, there could be no revolution or act against the Spaniards.

I admired Rizal’s intelligence. As a student who lives in this century, I can understand why our national hero did those things. He did not only think of the consequences of the action of the Filipinos but also their welfare after the proposed revolution. I strongly agree that we must be first educated on how to run a government properly so that we can appreciate what it really does before taking it from the colonizers. Taking over the government without really knowing how to run it will make the matter worse. People will be assigned to offices which does not really suit them and by that, they can be making wrong decisions that can affect the whole country. Rizal knew that Filipinos does not yet have the capacity to lead its own country. Rizal was not entirely sided with the Spaniards. He also saw flaws in the way they run our country. They have been cruel to Filipinos, which Rizal did not really like. His family was one of the people who have experienced maltreatment from the Spaniards. He himself is exposed to it.

Hailing Rizal as our national hero was right. Many had sacrificed their lives for our country but it was Rizal’s unique ability that set him above the rest. He opposed rebellion because he thought it could do nothing good to our country. He knows that attached to rebellion is criminal methods which includes killing people and bombing. He never advocated independence, nor did he advocate armed resistance to the government. Rizal fought for national unity but feared the revolution.

For example, there are many children in a room, each of them wanted to go out in the yard to play but the teacher will not allow them. Then the children will just wait until the teacher gets tired of watching for them and when the teacher is tired of containing them all inside the classroom, the teacher would eventually let them out to play. That is what Rizal was thinking. He thought that by obeying the rules set by the Spaniards and by following them, the Spaniards will give them reward and that reward in this setting is by letting them enjoy being part of the Spain’s territory.

Rizal’s novel had awakened the Filipino who was immune to the treatment of the Spaniards. It had brought up the reality of those times which was really terrible. Rizal brilliantly exposed how awful the friars treated the Filipinas, how Filipino people wanted to become one of the Spaniards just to be famous and how hard it was to live during those times. The released of the novels made the Spaniards angry because they were part of it. But whatever they did to stop the novel from reaching Filipino hands, they were not successful. Although only few Filipino have copies, it was already enough to ignite the desire to be free, from the bondage of the Spain’s rule, within each of the hearts of the Filipino people.

Having read the document, it helped me understand more Rizal and his every action. I realized that every decision made by Rizal was really studied on every angle. He was really a brilliant man. He really loved the Philippines that he really sacrificed himself for us to be free.