Hero ko rin si Rizal! Yan ah...

There can be no tyrants where there are no slaves.

If there's something I love in Pepe, that would be his peaceful way of fighting the powerful of his day. Not through the sword, but through the pen. In his novels, and through his calm delivery, he was able to ignite the flame of patriotism and nationalism among his contemporaries. As a matter of fact, we can still feel the heat of this flame today.

I suppose that many writers here and abroad have said many things about this little man from the Philippines who lived just like anyone during the 1800's, except that he lived an outstanding life. They might have told us already of his way of living, and of his many heartbreaks. Like, come on, hindi naman ako ang unang magsusulat tungkol sa kanya, eh!

But in this blogpost, I would like to reflect on this nice quotation of our National Hero, whose 150th Birthday we shall celebrate on Sunday. Of course, we know that he was a motivating factor for the rising of the Filipino Revolution. His legacy was something for Pinoys everywhere to be proud of. While everyone desired freedom, he stood up and bravely fought the tyranny of the Spanish rulers. He succeeded.

150 years after his birth, and just 115 years after his death, while we just let ourselves go with the flow of modernity, we can still trace the shadow of the past in our trail of the present. Somewhere in the word Philippines is a hidden bond with other countries. Our government calls this as diplomatic affairs. Open-eyed people calls this as tyranny. 

Yes, while we consider ourselves independent in terms of political will, cultural diversity and freedom of expression, still we realize that our freedom is incomplete yet. We still depend on other superpower countries when it comes to economic affairs.OFWs continue to work hard abroad, making themselves slaves of foreign masters so that they may have money for their families. We can't help our fellow Filipinos at first alarm; we see them suffer only to help them after two weeks or so. We follow other countries and pass laws so that we may receive their warm appreciation. 

And we consider ourselves independent. 

Jose Rizal said, There can be no tyrants where there are no slaves. Somewhere in our hearts we can tell that we are Filipinos but not to the greatest extent. We are still slaves to the will of the superpowers, as well as to our own pride and greed. We'd like change from long ago. But we can't find it while we stick our hands to the pot of slavery. We can't proceed if we don't consider our own will as a nation above those of the ill-willers. We could never tell the world that we are free if we can't find our freedom here in our midst.

We want the happiness of the Philippines, but we want to obtain it through noble and just means. If I have to commit villainy to make her happy, I would refuse to do so, because I am sure that what is built on sand sooner or later would tumble down.

This tells enough. We achieved freedom 113 years ago, but to complete this we must look deep into ourselves and find out how can we contribute to our nation's development. Not through dependence on tyrant countries, nor through corrupt practices, and especially not through killing our fellowmen. We can find our Nation's happiness, the true freedom of Las Islas Filipinas, in telling ourselves that WE ARE FILIPINOS AND WE CAN DO IT! In believing that WE ARE A GREAT RACE AND ARE INCLUDED IN OUR NATION'S PROSPERITY! And in putting this belief in our words and actions. We can stand again from the ashes and truly enough, we can proceed with living freely and providently.

Get out of the Nutshell, RP! Everything starts with us. Rizal started the fight against slavery of the tyrants. Let's continue his advocacy. Stand up, Pinoy! Go and do what you can do for our Nation.