From where I stand, a light reveals its rays. And by how the light sees its end, the end becomes a lighted trail, a trail towards another milepost. And a milepost that will soon be an immortalized hereafter.

That light represents me. You. He. She. All of us.

We are the light needed by our people’s castrated conditions.

We are the light that shall blaze the trail to progress.

Dr. Jose Rizal, from his grand El Filibusterismo, said, “You must shatter the vase to spreadits perfume, and smite the rock to get the spark.” What is being put into stress here are the actions the youth must do, the advent of changing the norms for the betterment and the timeline of hope altering wings that each one of us must hold to.

When I was a child, my mother would tell me about my responsibility being the eldest son of the family. She would say, “An Englishman’s home is his castle that whatever happens in his house or business or ordeals, it should not be subjected to outside meddling.”

True, the significance of what you are tells how you value your language. It is the Panday Pira, the ningas cogon, the Dagohoy, the aktibista and the Jose Rizal in you. It is who you are and it is that one part of yourself that remains to be uninhibited, unchangeable and unconquered.

Always think about the responsibility not just for your profit but also for the hearts surrounding within your being a Filipino, the common good and simply by being who you are. Then, of the change provided on us by Rizal during his exile in Dapitan, though confined, never failed to usher the entire country to change, change will be ours.

Just like young Jose, we can show reverence to our country by paying respect to our language and the race which brought us excellence. By doing so, we also gain respect on ourselves for “While a people preserves its language: it preserves the marks of liberty.”

I remember the time when Elias, in his dying breath, told Basilio about carrying on the dream of freedom for his motherland, “I shall die without seeing the dawn break upon my homeland. You, who shall see it, salute it! Do not forget those who have fallen during the night.”

A country is never a country without her people. What would history be like if a country only had plants? What is Romeo without Juliet? Hitler without Eva Braun, Pyramus without Thisbe? And Marcos without Imelda and her imeldific shoes?

The significance of starting initiatives lies not on one chair only. Neither does it lie on mere vain hope nor our hoping. Neither does it lie on only a day nor two. Everyone, it lies on our hands, the dear youths of today. Us. The new Rizals of today.

It is a lifelong process. And as we fold our breeches and tighten our prayers, together, as one country with one goal, adopt the advocacy of the Rizals of this generation and of their yesterday’s dream of seeing the Philippines as a tiger of economy and a lion worth the respect of its herd.
Even if a Spanish blood runs in my veins, I, purely, will bleed Filipino. And I know, Rizal is the other half of it.

Most people want to leave the Philippines, much like a sea wrack, and escape their being Filipino, which by so doing, having a life at ease. No, I am Rizal. I will be Rizal and I will take a hold of my responsibility in fixing the damage and soon help it rise again.

A very little degree of love for country is sufficient to cause the birth of a new generation, a generation more dignified, a generation more glorious.

“I wish to show those who deny us patriotism that we know how to die for our country and convictions”, as inscribed on the walls of the historic Fort Santiago, Dr. Jose Rizal leaves a mark for us to think about and soon, with profound love, be realized.

There was once a battle of ideas in Noli Me Tangere between Elias and Ibarra, whether revolution or reform is the answer. A middle way between two extremes. Hard to answer. What we need is an internal revolution, the revolt within us. It is by using the sword only if the pen runs out of ink and using the heart if the brain finds it hard to seek for more sound answers.

From where I stand, a light reveals its rays.

We are the light.

We are the rays of our own light.

Let your light shine and your rays touch a saddened stone. Later, that stone shall shine like a diamond.

Anyhow, I’ve just made my light shine, how about you, young Jose?