It will not be out of place in this connection to suggest that the affectionate realism with which Rizal regarded his country and his people should characterize our own attitude towards Rizal himself. In dedicating his novel, Noli Me Tangere, to his beloved country, he addressed her as follows: Desiring your health which is also ours, and seeking the best means of restoring it, I shall do with you what the ancients did with their sick they brought them to the steps of the temple that all who came to invoke the god might stop to suggest a remedy… I shall lift a portion of the bandage which hides the disease, sacrificing all to the truth, even my personal pride, for us a son of yours I am not exempt from your defects and weaknesses.1 Thus, while Rizal was fearless in denouncing the evils of the colonial administration of his time, he was no less fearless in pointing out to his countrymen “our own mistakes, our own vices, our supine and culpable acquiescence to these evils.”2

He clearly saw and boldly proclaimed the fact that while the Filipino people suffered from colonial rule, they were as much the victims of their own vices and defects. Rizal’s balance of judgment saved him from this pernicious error. It was not the inordinate love which so often passes for patriotism, whereby one regards one’s native country as perfect beyond criticism, and attributes all its ills to the tyranny and greed of strangers.

When these salutary activities fell under the suspicion of the colonial government and he was condemned to death as a rebel, he generously offered his blood for the welfare of his country.īut although his love for his country was great, it was not a blind, unreflecting love. He devoted his time, his energies and the resources of his brilliant mind to dispelling the ignorance and apathy of his people, and combating the injustices and inequalities under which they labored. He loved his country not in word alone but in deed. And justly so for Rizal possessed to an eminent degree those virtues which together make up true patriotism.

Among the many illustrious Filipinos who have distinguished themselves in the service of their country, the highest place of honor belongs to Dr.

Jose rizal books el filibusterismo