Jeffrey Jabson

Life and Works of Rizal

ABOUT NATIONAL HERO, JOSE RIZAL

• Introduction: Jose Rizal has three faces. Jose Rizal for the masses. Jose Rizal for the Academic. Jose Rizal for the target shooters. Jose Rizal for the masses is pretty straightforward. He is the Montemayor Rizal (Jose Rizal, A Biographical Sketch - by Teofilo H. Montemayor). He was born in Calamba, Laguna, on June 19, 1861. He died (by musketry) December 30, 1896 at Bagumbayan. Between those years he became the Philippines' greatest hero because he agitated for Philippine independence from Spain, for which he was shot. He was a genius, an architect, an artist, businessman, cartoonist, educator, economist, ethnologist, scientific farmer, historian, inventor,

journalist, linguist, musician, mythologist, nationalist, naturalist, novelist, ophthalmic surgeon, painter, physician-surgeon, poet, propagandist, psychologist, scientist, sculptor, sociologist, and theologian. He mastered 22 languages; these included Arabic, Catalan, Chinese, English, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Latin, Malayan, Portugese, Russian, Sanskrit, Spanish, Tagalog, and other native dialects. He was an expert swordsman and a good shot.

• Rizal as an educator: Fortunately, José received many opportunities at education. He attended the University of Santo Tomas in Manila. In 1882, he moved to Spain where he studied medicine and philosophy. He received not only an academic education but a political one as well. He saw the freedoms that the Spanish citizens enjoyed compared to the oppression of his fellow Filipinos back home. Leaving Spain, José continued his studies in Paris and Heidelberg—studying medicine and also writing on the side. His first novel published in 1886 was written in Spanish and titled Noli Me Tangere ("Touch Me Not"). The book was a passionate exposé about the evils of the Spanish friars in his homeland. Given the chance, he would teach many things to the lowly and depressed wholeheartedly.

• Rizal as a scientist: Rizal was a profound student of anthropology and ethnology. He was incited to master these studies by the behavior of the Spaniards, who always treated the natives as though they were by nature inferior. As a schoolboy he was often cut to the quick by their arrogance toward his people. He could not see why he should be despised because his skin was brown and his hair straight. He took delight in standing at the head of his class, just to prove to himself that the Spaniards were no better than his own people. He observed that when Europeans came to the islands they seemed to regard the natives as a species of animal fit only for menial service. What moral right, he asked, has the white man to look down on the men who have similar thoughts and studies as they and similar abilities, just because their skin is brown, or their hair is straight? He resolved to probe the matter to the bottom and see if there was any foundation for these claims of the haughty Spaniards.

• Rizal as an internationalist & historian: In the schools of Manila he came to the conclusion that ability did not depend upon color. While pursuing his studies abroad he kept his eyes open to see what truth there was in the doctrine that he was an inferior being -- a doctrine, which his soul hated. In Madrid he became very bitter when he saw how great a contrast there was between the freedom which Spain enjoyed and the theocratic absolutism of his fatherland. He became disgusted with the selfishness of the Spanish politicians. He noticed, also, that ninety-nine out of every hundred Europeans believed without criticism all that the editors of their favorite newspapers chose to tell them. "That also happens to my Tagals," said he, "although they have no white skin." In France and Germany he lived among the peasants for months at a time for the purpose of studying their race characteristics. He came to the conclusion at last that "the human races are distinguished in their outward habits and in their build, but not in their psychology." "White, brown, yellow and black feel and are excited by all the same passions and emotions." He repudiated the doctrine of colonial politicians, that there are races of limited intelligence who can never rise to the level of Europeans. While the inhabitants of the Philippines belong to the mildest and most cultured branch of the Malay race, the race as a whole has been described by travelers as deceitful. To this charge of moral inferiority Rizal replies: Merchants come to the tropics to enrich themselves as soon as possible. This they can do only when they buy at extremely low prices in the country. The natives, however, consider such transactions as not fair business; believing that the white race are trying to deceive them, they take their means, also, to get the advantage of the Europeans, whilst among themselves they show far more honesty. The Europeans, consequently, denounce them as liars and deceivers; but that they, as Europeans, prey upon the natives, never appears to enter their heads. On the contrary, the white race believe they are morally entitled to trade with them in immoral ways.

These reflections of Rizal require no comment. Race pride and rapacity are the charges which Rizal brings against the Spaniards. And yet, as for race pride, I think history proves that the Spaniards have been not quite so bad as the Americans. There is no other nation so hopelessly prejudiced against the colored man as we. When, right here at home, the laws are ignored and men are lynched, almost daily, because of race prejudice, he must be an optimist indeed who believes that Americans will be less prejudiced 3,000 miles away from home. There are places in our country where men are supposed to enjoy all the rights guaranteed by the constitution, where, nevertheless, the colored man who should dare to vote his convictions would be shot down with impunity. This can occur at home where the rights of the negro are protected by powerful political interests. What, therefore, may the Philippines expect who are to be ruled as subject people without even a nominal claim to the protection of the constitution; who are to be ruled by men that will have 3,000 miles of ocean between them and the government to which they are responsible; and, who are to exercise control over people who cannot look to great political interests, as the negroes can, for protection? Maybe there is some alchemy in the Pacific breezes which will neutralize the race pride for which we have become infamous; but if I were a Filipino I should not care to put faith in it.

• Rizal as a researcher: Rizal said: I liked to absorb things by observing people and surroundings, by reading a lot of books, and by listening more than talking. In fact I preferred to express myself in writing, which I was very good at, than by talking; besides I had a lisp (Karnow), and because I was not inherently strong, I did not have the lung capacity to be talking a lot. There was no one in my immediate family who was of the oratorical type to influence me. Consequently, I found being a doctor a good profession next to being a martyr. Medicine balanced out my inherent extreme sensitivity with its requirement for rigorous objectivity. I absorbed the medical materials in silence, and when I became a doctor, all I had to say when I was with patients was hmm... hmm, wrote a prescription, and the pharmacist or my nurse would explain how it was taken. If someone needed surgery, all I would need to say was 'surgery', and except for an occasional 'scalpel, hemostat, sponge and tie' request to the operating room nurse, I could operate efficiently in silence. Talking robs me of time for absorbing knowledge. When anyone talks, it is either to impart knowledge to others, or to expose one's ignorance either by asking (which is not necessarily bad), or giving untrue information. In either case, it is time taken away from absorbing knowledge. In fact, if, in addition to the reading, listening, observing, drawing, painting, sculpturing, annotating Morga, and writing prodigiously, I had to talk, I would have needed at least another two to three years of life before I would have reached my level of knowledge, opinion, and maturity to finally start writing the Noli. And if I spent more time talking instead of writing it, it would have pushed the Noli's time table farther. This in turn would have pushed farther in time many of the other happenings around me by a few of years that I would have to be executed at Bagumbayan by, say, December 30, 1899. By then, the Spanish-American war of 1898 would be over, and the Philippines would have been sold to the United States by Spain for $20,000,000, and I would have most probably missed my destiny with martyrdom. Whew, I'm sure glad I do not talk much, otherwise I would not have been able to practice my primary profession. It would have been goodbye hero!

• Rizal as a community development leader: Rizal said: I tried to fight off my depression by doing a lot for the community. The people there loved me for it. But eventually this doing for others to do something for me got old, and I had to get out of Dapitan - even if I had to sacrifice some of my principles a bit. Jose Marti, my counterpart out there in Cuba, was rallying his countrymen to fight for their independence from Spain. I was not really afraid of coming home because I had a secret. As a matter of fact I had more than one secret; I had two. One, I had a death wish, and two, I was a Freemason. So if I got killed, then I get to practice my primary profession. Hopefully, it would take the heat off my family. On the other hand, my freemason fraternity brothers would afford me some protection. Many of the people who write about me just zips through this aspect of my life and just says that it is a secret society. Yes, there are aspects about it that are secret - the rites and ceremonies, but on the whole this fraternity aims to make truth seekers and charitable persons out of our members. Freemasons do not advertise their goodness, and to the best of our abilities we always extend help to our frat members; this is a very important code we follow. We also believe in God, and Catholics can be freemasons without giving up their religion. Contrast this with what the church did to me when I became a freemason. They kicked me out, and in my last days the friars so badly wanted me to denounce my fraternity. But my frat brothers were always there for me. Austin Coates picked up on the fact that my last meal was spent with my officer frat brothers in Fort Santiago. They would not set me free because they could not, but they sure were lenient to me during my stay there. My frat brothers, when I got home to the Philippines, were there to blunt the dangers directed at me by the friars. Freemason Governor General Terrero extended me protection, and even gave me a bodyguard. Terrero himself advised me to leave the country when he was getting too much heat from the friars for coddling me. This fraternity gave the Filipinos their first whiff of ideas threatening to the friars, such as liberty, equality, fraternity and independence." (Fajardo: Masonry and the Philippine Revolution). This fraternity was one of the exhilarating thing that I got into when I went to Spain and other parts of Europe. The other was the freedom to think freely and say something stupid without fear of the locals breathing down my neck or punishing me. This was the kind of atmosphere I wished for my native land, and worked for. I just wanted the Filipinos to have the same rights as the rest of the citizens of Spain. I did not want to be separate from Spain. I figure that building up a poor country from the ground up independently would take more than a century, but by being a state of Spain, on equal footing with the rest of her states, it would catapult the Philippines rapidly through the twentieth century economically and culturally. But I guess Spain found the Philippines too unimportant, and besides frequent changes in the Spanish government between liberals and conservatives did not make for a consistent policy and attention to the least of her colonies - us indios. Cuba and Puerto Rico were closer to her national consciousness - especially Cuba. She was Spain's national pride - a gift from God for driving the Moslems out of Spain back in time. Oops, I should be careful not to get too carried away with historical events around my life. Though important in its effect on my personality, too much can detract from who I am.

• Rizal as an artist: Young Rizal tackled his work as a genious would. He captured many honors in literary and artistic contests. He always had an edge over his classmates and he stayed at the top even during the written and oral examinations. His report cards were usually marked sobresaliente (excellent). Whenever there was an oratorical tilt, Pepe Rizal was there winning medals as usual. He wrote a playlet in Spanish called "Junto al Pasig", which was presented in school.

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