When Dr. Jose Rizal wrote the poem "Por la Educacion Recibe Lustre la Patria" (Through Education the Country Receives Light), quoting Gregorio Zaide in the book "Jose Rizal - Life, Works and Writings", he believed in "the significant role which education plays in the progress and welfare of a nation".
Such was Rizal’s acknowledgement of the great value of knowledge gained through education that he wrote another poem "Alianza Intima Entre la Religion y la Buena Educacion" (Intimate Alliance Between Religion and Good Education).
This recognition was inculcated in his young mind through his mother. Doña Teodora was the first teacher of Rizal. She taught the young boy how to read and speak Latin and Spanish. She read to him stories and fables. One of these fables, the fable of the young moth, left a deep impression in Rizal’s mind that it later became prophetic of what was destined to come.
Ironically though, it was also Doña Teodora who opposed Rizal’s quest for higher education in the University of Sto. Tomas. She feared that if her son learned too much, like the men during their time - Dr. Antonio Ma. Regidor and Jose Ma. Basa, among others, who were put into exile - his life would be in great danger like the moth that lost its life because of the attraction the fire in the lamp brought.
Then again, in 1879, in the prize-winning poem "A La Juventud Filipina" (To The Filipino Youth), Rizal implored the youth to "rise from lethargy, to let his genius fly swifter than the wind and descend with art and science to break the chain that has long bound the poetic genius of the country".
Clearly, the many perils his knowledge brought did not deter him from seeking further education and later passing it on as moral aid to the embattled Filipinos of his time. He was to write years later that Father Burgos, one of the three GomBurZa martyrs of Cavite and mentor of his older and only brother Paciano, "awakened my intellect and made me understand goodness and justice". The martyr’s last words likewise made an imprint on his mind: "I have tried to pass on to you what I received from my teachers. Do the same for those who come after you."
His letter in 1891 to Father Vicente Garcia spoke of his disappointment of the Filipinos’ little progress in the three centuries of Hispanism. He told Garcia that this was attributed to the fact that most talented men in his time "died without bequeathing to us nothing more than the fame of their name"; that it was only them, as individuals, who progressed and improved and not the race that needed whatever talent they had when they were still alive.
But Rizal himself could not cast the blame solely on his fellow Filipinos for he had likewise witnessed and even experienced the many injustices and cruelties pride and knowledge could bring.
Furthermore, he knew that not all Filipinos were as knowledgeable of the law and therefore as courageous as he was when he reported to the Governor General the beating he got from a lieutenant of the Guardia Civil of whom he failed to acknowledge because it was dark. Not all Filipinos were as full of pride and confidence as he was when he triumphantly accepted his prize for having his prose entitled "El Consejo de los Dioses" (The Council of the Gods) surpass all entries despite the bitter objections of the best Spanish writers in Manila who also joined the literary contest of the Artistic-Literary Lyceum in 1880. Lastly, not all Filipinos were as dedicated as he was in devoting and consecrating his entire life for the cause of the Filipinos, to the point that nobody showed perceptible objection when he was executed in Bagumbayan.
Rizal knew his fellowmen feared for their lives. And he likewise could not blame them for being too protective of their family’s name. But he took these risks just to present to the world the many ills of the Filipino nation that no one dared to express. From the smallest of his own ways to the biggest of his contributions, he was never a failure in sharing his expertise.
He made good use of his time when he was put to exile in Dapitan. He introduced irrigation in the said place. He practiced medicine for free. And despite the natives’ objection of having their children taught by the infamous man, many still came to him to receive their share of knowledge.
I could go on and on with the many examples of Dr. Rizal’s generosity in sharing whatever advancement of thinking he gained through his quest for knowledge. However, I could never be too sure if he was being entirely negative when he described to Father Garcia the Filipinos’ apathy and fear for knowledge.
What I am most sure of, however, is that Rizal, a prophet that he also was, merely gave Filipinos a warning that Filipinos and all of their God-given skills could forever be wasted and submerged for posterity in a poor man’s grave if they would only live for their own individual advancement and progress.
(Inset: The author with, from left, her fave male UP Rizal Prof. Nilo S. Ocampo and her dad, Manila Bulletin Sr. Correspondent and Rizal "fanatic" Momoy Cardenas during her graduation day last year; This has been posted just in time for the Philippines’ Independence Day Celeb.)
