Ever since I was young, I admire Dr. Jose Rizal. On account during the early part of his exile in Dapitan, Rizal never did wasted his time, effort and money at improving the lives of its inhabitants and his life as well through a never ending quests for learning.
Through inventions, teachings and reflections about the current state of the nation under the Spanish Regime. Rizal lived in a shoreline residence in Talisay, Dapitan of Commandant Captain Carnicero, where he made crucial and proper use of his monetary reward won from the Manila Lottery and his earnings as a farmer cum merchant by buying a parcel of farm land.
On this piece of property, he built three shacks- all made of bamboo materials, native woods, and weaved Nipa leaves used in roofing from wild Nipa shoots grown in local mangrove swamps. A house, square in shape, is where he resided while a second one was intended for his students as a living quarter. The third house was a barn where he kept his chickens feeding on local corn or rice kernels. All these were built by his own hands and aid of the local residents.
In a letter to his friend, Ferdinand Blumentritt, on December 19, 1893, Rizal described how his exile shaped his life living with the local people in that provincial shoreline.
I shall tell you how we live here. I have three houses; one square, another hexagonal, and a third octagonal, all of bamboo, wood and nipa. In the square house we live, my mother , sister Trinidad, a nephew and I; in the octagonal live my boys or some good youngsters whom I teach arithmetic, Spanish and English; and in the hexagonal live my chickens. From my house I hear the murmur of a crystal clear brook which comes from the high rocks ; I see the seashore , the sea where I have small boats, two canoes or barotos, as they say here. I have many fruit trees, mangoes, lanzones, guayabanos, baluno, nangka, etc. I have rabbits, dogs, cats,etc. I rise early - at five - visit my plants, feed the chickens, awaken my people and put them in movement. At half-past seven we breakfast with tea, pastries, cheese, sweetmeats, etc. Later I treat my poor patients who come to my land; I dress, I go to the town in my baroto, treat the people there, and return at 12 when my luncheon awaits me. Then I teach the boys until 4 P.M. and devote the after- noon to agriculture. I spend the night reading and studying."
Rizal's outburst of creativity and passion for his countrymen not only made him accomplish many things but somehow, improved the lives of the people. Brought probably from boredom and the hustle of fetching buckets of water for use inside the house and his garden, he built an irrigation that was tapped from a distant water shed using a split of bamboo stalks. As an expert surveyor, he saw the potential of the country side to develop a water system that would benefit not only him but also the locals.
Rizal, even though was in exile, he didn’t mind the fact being sent to Dapitan as a prisoner. Instead, he feasted his time on things quite creative and made a difference to local people by practicing his medicine to earn him respect and admiration. He never wasted his talents, so he pursued to educate the youth with things he learned from his hometown as he was well-schooled in Ateneo. But his best teacher was probably his mother who taught him the right values and poetry. He taught the youngsters with things like mathematics and languages.
Today, a Baluno tree in that same place stood still resilient to the times signifying the hand of a man who planted it many years ago. A reminder that his works should be continued even at difficult times - even if you're a stranger to a strange land. That in the pursuit of happiness there will always be stumble blocks and that should not stop us from moving forward our goals in life. That every once in a while we need to pause, count our blessings and go on pursuing our dreams. Rizal's dream was of course, for his country, a free and independent land; for his mother - a happy life with her children around her again. That his ordeal being away from his family, exiled for his work against the occupation and bullying of the Spaniards, proved that he is still florescent in terms of making a mark to the society wherever he may be.
1 comment:
Nice read..
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