BSECE 2-3 10/11/19

DURAN, Reineir S.

Essay About “Our Task: Make Rizal Obsolete”

by Renato Constantino
In the introduction part of the article, Constantino said that Rizal didn’t intend to put a mirror to our faces for us to see our lack
of greatness as a nation. That is, the mirror was not meant to reveal our bad image – our vices, defects, and meanness, but rather the
image of the people and the society of Rizal’s time. Now, we find that this bad image of the Filipinos stayed relevant starting from Rizal’s
time to the next generations and up to the present time. This gave rise to two groups with completely different schools of thought. One
group reveres Rizal so much because of his seemingly exceptional prophetic vision skills, and see Rizal’s teachings as valid at all times and
will be always static. The other group also reveres Rizal so much and claims that the conditions that Rizal wrote about were already
ceased and no longer exist today. According to Constantino, both groups devitalize Rizal because they distort the true meaning of Rizal’s
ideals for the people. That Rizal mainly aims for reform and not to ridicule and shame us by putting a mirror of the past to our faces.
Moreover, Rizal will be truly saddened to discover that we are praising his validity when we found out that the conditions he gave during
his time still exist today; when in fact we should be working towards eradicating the apparently never-ending and incurable ills of our
society. To do this, according to Constantino, our task is clear – i.e. to make Rizal obsolete. This is to make Rizal’s teachings what they
were meant to be, just a mirror of the past. For the next parts of the article, Constantino just mainly talked about some of the characters
that Rizal created from his two famous novels – Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo, and how the vices and defects that these
characters portray can still be seen from the people in the present. For example, tulisanes are not only found in the mountains; they can
also be found in towns and cities. They are the ones that live in towns and cities but have the characteristics of tulisanes – contemptuous
of the law and bent on getting their own personal interests regardless of the consequences that the society might give them for their anti-
social actions. Then, there are also Don Timoteo Pelaezes of the present. These are the rich people of the present with great power that
bribe other people (in the case of Don Timoteo Pelaez, the authorities) for their own personal benefits – like to not lose to their competitors
just like the businessman Don Timoteo Pelaez. Next is the one-armed man from the chapter of Noli Me Tangere which represents the
peddlers and fixers of the present especially the government officials or public servant that use their position and power to manipulate
the citizens into their own hands. On the last part of the, reminded why we should obsolete Rizal and said that we should all try to be
Rizal rather than Basilio. That is, in everything we do, we should always take into consideration the welfare of the nation.

In the summary above, these are the three things that I think were most important: first, we should not look at the conditions
that Rizal wrote about the Filipinos as if these conditions are valid at all times and were directed to all of the Filipinos in all generations.
In doing so, we accepted that these conditions were already instilled in us and a reform is pretty much very unlikely to happen. Rather,
we should treat the conditions that Rizal wrote about the people and society during his time in his works to be purely anachronistic and
just a thing in the past. Something not to look forward to doing again in the next generations. Second, Constantino’s examples of
characters from Rizal’s two novels and how they still portray different types of Filipino vices in the present is an indication that in the past
generations up to the present, there is little to no change or reform in our society. This proves the saying that literally, “History repeats
itself”. Change is impossible to happen and history of the past would just continue to recur in the present if no massive social reform would
occur, and most importantly, if change would not happen within ourselves first. Third, as what Constantino has said, we should try to be
Rizal and not Basilio. In all of our endeavors, we should always take into consideration the welfare of the nation, and not just our personal
goals and interests.

Upon reading this whole article of Constantino, what really stuck in my mind is the part where Constantino said that the students
today often exhibit the qualities of Basilio; because I know I’m one of those students. As an engineering student, it’s really hard not to
ignore the issues and problems that our country is facing. I am too focused on trying to excel academically that academics already became
my absolute reality and top priority. Being too focused in doing school works, I completely negated the reality on the outside. I became a
Basilio that is competent solely on doing his job but is indifferent with what’s going on with the society. After reading the whole article, I
reflected for a while. I’ve said to myself that I should work on trying not to become Basilio, but rather Rizal. That I should still do my job
competently, but in doing so I should always take into consideration the common good of all, ultimately the common good of the nation.