The Unfold

Rizal's life was filled with adventure, thrill, intellectual discoveries and tons of drama right before his death. His life has been featured and is still being relayed to the modern day era to be studied upon and to set an example to the Filipino youth. PI10 would not be in the curriculum of each university if Rizal's life and works did not greatly impact the history and the "kamalayan" of the Filipino people, to stand up for who we are as a people and what we are capable of as a race.

One of the interesting things that I found out about Rizal is him stuffing his pockets and shoes with stones and paper right before he was executed. It made me think of the possible secrets he could've written in those papers, last thoughts that ran in his mind, whether these were about fear, the Philippines, his family, God. It just awakened my curiosity if there were important anecdotes that we never knew that existed in those bits of paper. Another one would be learning that his waistline was 25-26 inches, when in fact mine is 26-27 inches. Where is the justice in that? Did Rizal even eat properly? For a man 5'3" in height to maintain such proportions and a freshie college girl is bigger in size. I maybe bitter but this fact has brought my interest on Rizal to a new different level. I hope he was not anorexic or did not skip meals. But in Dapitan it was said that he had three viands per meal so he must have had a fast metabolism or inherently had small proportions. The last fact that blew my mind away was Rizal trying drugs, hashish to be exact. As an experimental teenage boy, if I were him I'd do the same thing. At this point in my life, being reckless is what I feel. Getting piercings, tattoos, trying weed (shh Tokhang is still there) and dying my hair are the things that are on my list. When I knew of this fact, I felt the normalcy and the tendency of Rizal to experiment with such things and with life. Somehow, I could relate to him at this level and I'm glad to have learned that fact because it makes me feel that Rizal, too, is like me.

I realized that Rizal is a normal human being that his emotions and feelings drive him to do what he did in his terms. Rizal also feels common feelings like homesickness, especially, which I greatly relate to after studying for almost 7 years now away from home. I felt his longing for the familiar air of his hometown and now makes me feel a bigger desire to really go home, to feel that comfort of family and friends nearby. I also would like to emphasize that I realized the extent of his rationality, the he was very virtuous at the same time resorted to reason, finding the balance in his way of thinking. This could be observed in the perspectives of his stories, the creativity of his works, the way his opinions were translated to his writings. 

I am forever grateful for Jose Rizal's existence. He is legitimate idol who may be very mainstream, but is indeed an icon that every Filipino should look up to. Yet one question keeps bugging my mind. Did Rizal fall in love with Maximo Viola? There are anomalies about Rizal's sexuality and have linked their friendship to something deeper. I just want to know whether Rizal was that advance of a man to know that LGBTQIA+ rights would someday be a rising topic.