College of Liberal Arts and Communication

Social Sciences Department

Midterm Examination – SOSC 103

Explain the following quotes from Dr. Jose P. Rizal; use the specifications as agreed upon in the

class when you are required to submit an assignment/reaction paper. (10 points each)

1. What is your concept of love of country, how will you manifest/or show in the

present-day situations? Give five examples.

As a Filipino, my own concept with regards to love for one’s country has a

connection with the concept of nationalism wherein I would continously be grateful and

proud for being a citizen of this country. Despite of the economic dilemmas, political

controversies, and other negativities being faced by our country, this would not hinder me

in expressing how proud I am for being a Filipino because I still believe that there are

prospects for changes towards the attainment of peace, growth, and development that we,

citizens, are longing to achieve for our country.

In order to manifest my love for my country, simple ways could be undertaken

that could be applied in my day-to-day activities. These are the following:

 Being a disciplined citizen through complying to the rules being set at

home, in school, as well as in the community where I live in, such as rules

for pedestrian, signs or symbols being posted along the sidewalks, etc.;

 Patronizing the products that were locally made in order to contribute for

the growth and development of our country’s industry;

  Exercising Clean-As-You-Go (CLAYGO) since maintaining cleanliness

and orderliness is also an important way in order to show my love for the

country;

 Exercising one of my responsibilities as a Filipino, which is to vote for the

government and local officials who, I think, are deserving for the positions

they are running for, which is considerably essential since I, as part of the

current generation, am the one who will benefit in the future and who will

surely be affected by the kind of governance being exemplified by the

chosen leaders;

 Lastly, being an eye-opener through encouraging everyone to speak and

voice out their notions, opinions, and suggestions, in connection with the

issues being encountered by our country, so that problems could be easily

addressed and solved immediately.

2. In the Middle Ages, everything bad was the work of the devil, everything good, the

work of God. Today, the French see everything in reverse and blame the Germans

for it. Letter to Fr. Pastells (11 November 1892)

The passage above were obtained from the second letter of Dr. Jose Rizal to Fr.

Pastells, his mentor, on the 11th of November 1892. During the Middle Ages, the power

of the Roman Catholic Church is considerably influential to the extent that it had a

significant role in the society. In the view of majority throughout that period, everything

that was done in an unethical manner were considered to be the work of devil. On the

contrary, everything that was undertaken morally and justly were said to be work of God.

This kind of concept greatly influence the people as they distinguish what is good from

what is wrong.

However, there was a comparison being done by Rizal which is evident on the

second line of the excerpt. This was based on the World War 1 that occurred around 1890

wherein several countries were involved, including France and Germany. The World War
 1 that had happened resulted to French blaming everything to Germans. This had been

utilized by Rizal as a metaphor to describe his unwanted experiences and interaction with

the Spanish friars wherein he had witnessed how they abused and discriminated Filipinos

which was ironic since they were known to have a decent and respectable image in lieau

of their intention which is to spread the Word of God.

3. 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.

Letter to Blumentritt, (31 January 1887)

This excerpt of the letter written by Dr. Jose Rizal to Ferdinand Blumentritt on the

31st of January 1887 exemplifies how calm Rizal was despite of the pain, sufferings,

unjust governance, and unequal treatment that our country, particularly its citizens, had

experienced under the Spanish colonization. He chose to attain our country’s freedom,

that Filipinos longed for under the governance of the Spaniards, not through war or

violence, but through just and noble means. He did not want to have a revolution that

would result to chaos and death of many people. Rather, he had utilized his intellect

through his writings that served an eye-opener to Filipinos. He persuaded thousands of

Filipinos to voice out their feelings, fight for their rights, to stand up from being degraded

and discriminated by the Spaniards.

Furthermore, for Rizal, it is unethical to use violence, as means of attaining

freedom. He truly believes that good things will come to those who fight according to

what is morally upright and fair. Indeed, goodness will prevail and there are no other

forces that could hinder one nation’s attainment for freedom, success and development.

In addition, when Rizal had emphasized what he mentioned in his letter about what is

built on sand would sooner or later tumble down, he means that a stronger foundation

must be utilized for a building, for instance, to be firm. This could be applied in our

everyday lives wherein we must create decisions that are well-thought of in order to
 avoid future complications and dilemmas from occurring. These decisions could not only

be utilized in a personal manner, but could also be applied in a nationalistic perspective

wherein it is our country that will benefit.

4. Genius has no country. It blossoms everywhere. Genius is like the light, the air. It is

the heritage of all. Toast to the artists Juan Luna and Felix Hidalgo: Madrid, Spain

(25 June 1884)

I strongly agree with this passage written by Dr. Jose Rizal that emphasizes not

only an individual’s intellect but also his or her talents or skills. This passage simply

implies that there is equality among nationalities in terms of the measure of intelligence

and the level of capabilities. There is no such country who is considered to be more

superior and powerful and could dominate other countries. I believe that each and

everyone of us is intelligent and has his or her own competitive advantage which makes

one unique and distinct. Truly, God gave each one of us special talents and skills for us to

nurture which is something that we must be proud of. Instead of being jealous or envious

about other people’s capabilities, we should rather be contented for the talents that God

had showered upon us and further enhance it for us to be able to share this to others. In

this way we could be an inspiration and motivation to them.

Furthermore, the intellect that we have must not be used against others. This is

one emerging issue that I have observed today wherein some people were being degraded

and discriminated by those people who claim that they are intellectually superior than

others. As a result, those people who are being viewed to be inferior suffers from lack of

self-esteem, self-confidence, anxiety, and more. In addition, intellect must also not be

used as advantage over others, such as deceptions or fraud. One must not utilize his or her

knowledge just to mislead and deceive others for personal gain or interest. Being

intellectual must indeed come from our hearts not from what our mind desires to the

extent that we opt to undertake unethical actions.

5. To doubt God is to doubt one's own conscience, and in consequence it would be to

doubt everything. Letter to Fr. Pastells (4 April 1893)

This passage, that Rizal had written in his letter to Father Pastells on the 4 th of

April 1893, simply implies that God will always be at the center of each and everyone’s

lives. Indeed, belief, trust, and faith in God are the values that must be instilled within our

hearts for it greatly affect how we view all the things happening in our lives. On the

contrary, if we doubt God’s existence, there would be a domino effect that could lead to

confusion about one’s self, particularly affecting one’s conscience, and uncertainty about

everything in much wider scale. This surely affects the decision-making process of

individuals in which there might be instances wherein we would have a hard time

distinguishing what is right from what is wrong.

Furthermore, doubting God leads to ignorance and sinfulness in which this affects

an individual’s conscience negatively in a manner that s/he may opt to commit wrongful

acts and unjust judgements. This would then negatively affect each individual’s

perceptions and viewpoints about everything. Moreover, every aspect involved within

one’s life would not anymore be in harmony as the way how God wants it to be which

would probably result to chaos, perplexity and indecisiveness.

6. I believe in revelation, but not in revelation which each religion claims to possess...

but in the living revelation which surrounds us on every side — mighty, eternal,

unceasing, incorruptible, clear, distinct, universal as is the being from whom it

proceeds, in that revelation which speaks to us and penetrates us from the moment

we are born until we die. Letter to Fr. Pastells (4 April 1893)

The excerpt above was derived from the letter of Dr. Jose Rizal to Fr. Pastells on

the 4th of April 1893. In my own interpretation, the living revelation that Rizal was

referring to solely petains to God, who is mighty for He has control over everything in

this world, who is eternal for He is with us from the moment we are born until eternity,
 who is superior for He has the power and authority above all things, who is infallible for

nothing could bring Him down, who is clear for He has goods intentions for us and that is

to provide us salvation, who is distinct for He is unique and no one could dominate Him,

and who is universal for His love is unconditionally expressed for all, no matter what

nationality or race a person belongs.

Indeed, we feel God’s presence in every moment of our lives wherein He is

always there to protect, as well as guide us in everything that we do, particularly with

every decision that we make and every action that we undertake. Furthermore, God lives

within our hearts in which we could feel that He speaks to us for the purpose of

encouraging us to live out our lives in accordance to His will.

7. Each one writes history according to his convenience. Letter to Blumentritt, written

at Leipzig (22 August 1886)

The said passage were the words of Dr. Jose Rizal to Ferdinand Blumentritt

during his sojourn in Europe on the 22nd of August 1886. This excerpt does not pertain to

history solely, but this could also be applied to an individual’s fate wherein a person

tends to control what is meant for him or her in a manner that would be convenient and

favorable to him or her. This is evident to some people who choose not to deal with the

complex aspects in life and opt to escape from complications and everything that is

disastrious in pursuit of something that is simple and convenient to undertake.

Furthermore, based on the passage, Rizal emphasizes how people choose to

control their fate for convenience that definitely affects the society, as a whole. This

certainly corresponds to a Chinese passage that indicates that the masses are the makers

or writers of history. Indeed, the things that we, Filipinos, are undertaking in the pursuit

of convenience right now would definitely be a history for the country’s future

generation.
8. Is it not sad, I said to my countrymen, that we have to learn from a foreigner about

ourselves? Thanks to the German scholars we get accurate information about

ourselves, and when everything in our country has been destroyed and we wish to

verify the historical correctness of certain facts we shall have to come to Germany to

search for these facts, in German museums and books! Letter to Blumentritt (13

April 1887)

This passage that was derived from Dr. Jose Rizal’s letter to Ferdinand

Blumentritt on the 13th April 1887 poses the indolence of Filipinos in the nationalistic

perspective wherein instead of focusing in nurturing our culture, as well as rebuilding our

country’s glory, Filipinos during the Spanish colonization, tend to solely depend on the

Spaniards wherein some Filipinos opted not to be productive anymore in strengthening

our country’s agricultural industry, as well as bringing back the prosperous state of our

country. They chose to be idle which is considerably a negative implication.

Furthermore, if we are going to apply the said passage in the current generation. It

is indeed sad and disappointing to think that Filipinos, nowadays, tend to be interested on

foreign goods, ignoring the local goods that are being produced by our fellow citizens.

Professing this kind of action would sooner lead to negligence of Filipinos about their

homeland (the Philippines). In addition, the future Filipino generation would probably

have lesser, or worst no knowledge about our country’s culture, tradition, customs and

other aspects if we would continuously focus on patronizing other countries. However,

this could be prevented if we are going to continue the plans that Rizal had made for us.

Let us always remember the sacrifices of our heroes just to fight for what our country

deserves. Moreover, we would not be here without their sacrifices so we must exert the

best that we can and not put all their efforts in vain. We should not let our country reach

to the point that other countries would become more knowledgeable than us with regards

to our own homeland. This will surely bring us back from our experiences in the past

when we were still under the governance of foreign colonizers which is something that

our herous, particularly Rizal, would not be proud of.

9. Filipinos don't realize that victory is the child of struggle, that joy blossoms from

suffering, and redemption is a product of sacrifice. "Como se gobiernan las

Filipinas" (How one governs in the Philippines), published in La Solidaridad (15

December 1890)

This passage is an excerpt from La Solidaridad, a newspaper that was published

by the Propaganda Movement in order to help achieve its goals, such as uniting the whole

country, fighting violence and injustice, protecting the Filipinos from the slavery and

unjust treatments of the Spaniards, and more. Dr. Jose Rizal was the one who proposed

the establishment of the organization aforementioned wherein it had no intention of

promoting revolution against the Spanish government.

In the given passage, it is indeed evident that the content of La Solidaridad, in

general, had a primary intention to persuade and encourage the readers, particularly all

Filipinos, to open up their minds and hearts, voice out their viewpoints and perspectives

with regards to the governance of Spaniards, as well as exercise each and everyone’s

sense of nationalism and patriotism. The passage simply implies that Filipinos must know

how to be patient, especially in times of struggles and sufferings. It is really inevitable for

a country to experience downfalls and hardships. So instead of looking at the negative

side, Rizal persuades Filipinos to focus on the brighter side for them not to lose their

hope and not to give up in such circumstances. Filipinos must instill in their minds that

the feeling of helplessness and hopelessness are just temporary and would soon turn into

triumph and joy if they would be hardworking and productive enough to fight for what

our country deserves to be. This act involves sacrifice which, at the end, will benefit each

one of us, and the country where we live in.

10. Death has always been the first sign of European civilization when introduced in the

Pacific. Annotations to Morga's Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas.

This particular passage came from Dr. Jose Rizal’s annotation to Antonio de

Morga’s Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas – one of the important works on the early history
of the Spanish colonization of the Philippines which was published in Mexico in 1609.

The three (3) main propositions in Rizal’s annotation of the said work written by Morga

are: (a) the people of the Philippines had its own culture and tradition before it was

colonized by the Spaniards; (b) Filipinos were decimated, demoralized, exploited,

discriminated, and ruined by the colonization of the Spanish government; and (c) the

current state of the Philippines was not necessarily superior to its past.

The second proposition of Rizal for me, has a relation with the said passage

wherein Filipinos were indeed ruined by the Spanish colonization since there were

thousands of Filipinos who suffered and died while fighting for justice and freedom of

our country under the hands of the oppressive Spaniards. However, before our country

was colonized by the Spaniards, there were already traces which prove that death has

always been associated with European colonization. One particular evidence of this was

when Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese explorer, arrived in the Philippines in 1521.

During his arrival in the Marianas Island, number of death cases had been reported due to

houses that had been burnt and small crafts that had been stolen. This is because Filipino

natives had neither equipment nor weapons to use against the Europeans. Furthermore,

Magellan’s intention to convert our country to Christianity (God), and the other

intentions of Europeans (Gold and Glory), had led a war between him and Lapu-Lapu

that happened in Mactan. A lot of Filipino natives were killed, as well as those people in

the side of Magellan. Based on these evidences, Rizal is right with his annotation that

death is inevitable in the presence of European conquistadors because of their thirst for

power, wealth, as well as our country’s resources.