Editor’s Note: I wrote this article last January 3, 2020, at the height of the impeachment of U.S. President Donald J. Trump. I submitted this piece to The Washington Post, but it was ignored. I believe that this article is still timely as the world sees Trump’s failed leadership to contain the virus.
–
Jose Rizal, the Philippines’ national hero, left an imprint to the country’s history, culture and politics. His two notable novels – Noli Me Tangere (Touch Me Not) and El Filibusterismo (The Reign of Greed) – sparked a revolution against the Spaniards who had already controlled the country for more than 300 years. He is the justification of the quote, “The pen is mightier than the sword.” The colonizers were exasperated of the two proses that they were prompted to execute him on December 30, 1896.
But while most of his impressions may be viewed as specified criticisms of the environment he had perceived, I tend to see them as generalized thoughts about the human existence and government tyranny. That Rizal’s takes are applicable to the current American society, not just the Filipino society. And even if neither countries are under colonization, the problems he had saw and felt were as subsisted as ever before.
I handpicked quotes from Rizal that Americans may be able to enliven.
1. “There can be no tyrants where there are no slaves.” (El Filibusterismo)
Leaders only become tyrants when they have people whom they will enslave. The president’s tyrannical actions – igniting division, narcissistic, discrediting the opposition, stonewalling investigators – would not drastically harm the country if his enablers and supporters won’t condone it. Unfortunately, the president has a strong following of Americans who are willing to be slaves of his lies – more than 15,000, according to the Post’s Fact Checker Database – and false promises – there hasn’t been any wall yet.
2. “I die without seeing dawn’s light shining on my country… You, who will see it, welcome it for me…don’t forget those who fell during the nighttime.” (Noli Me Tangere)
In the Lord of the Rings: The Return of The King’s trailer, one of the taglines presented were, “No freedom without sacrifice.” That stands to be the truth about fighting the adversaries of the society. The protests, the revolutions and the battles will be bloody and unforgiving. Whatever fight you’ll encounter – whether that’s a battle about the economy, climate change or immigration – there will be sacrifices and grievances to be offered. But when the day comes when peace reigns, you should never forget the courage of the fallen.
3. “The youth is the hope of the future.”
Greta Thunberg is 2019’s Person of the Year of Time Magazine for “sounding the alarm about humanity’s predatory relationship with the only home we have (Edward Felsenthal, editor-in-chief of Time)”. She is one of the many teenagers who are using their voices to speak out on the issues that matter in the society. The Black Lives Matter Movement, which began in 2013, were prompted by women of their late 20s and early 30s. The Parkland Movement, which was initiated because of a gun shooting in Florida in February 2018, were led by students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. The Greensboro sit-ins – the fight for civil rights that began in 1960 – were started by four teenagers from North Carolina.
The youth’s voice is indispensable, and the movements by which they establish are inevitable. They are the next men and women who will run America’s established systems and the thousand neighborhoods across the country. Their future is at stake if today’s government won’t listen to them with sincerity and candor.
4. “Dying people don’t need medicine, the ones who remain do.”
Who needs medicine in this country? The sick people. And who are the sick people? The white nationalists. The conspiracy theorists. The sex offenders. Politicians who vote ‘nay’ on basic human services like free education and healthcare for all. The racists. The sexists. The anti-Semitics. And the many more who fit in the aforementioned categories under the ejusdem generis rule.
Leaders only become tyrants when they have people whom they will enslave. The president’s tyrannical actions – igniting division, narcissistic, discrediting the opposition, stonewalling investigators – would not drastically harm the country if his enablers and supporters won’t condone it.
–
Jose Rizal’s intelligence is unfathomable and immeasurable. He was able to capture men’s grievances and leaders’ weaknesses. Americans should learn more about Rizal as much as we had learned about him. And Americans should adore Rizal as much as we adore him.
Featured image from Panay News
The Edj View 