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The talented men that were mentioned in the letter of Dr. Jose Rizal to Fr. Vicente Garcia in 1891, were all defenceless when he referred to them as "talented individuals who die leaving the country nothing but the fame in their name".
Indeed, Rizal was right when he wrote such a letter. However, he was not able to give the reasons that hinder some of these men in contributing to the advancement of the Filipino race.
Rizal explained the value of contributing to the Filipino society in his novel entitled "Noli Me Tangere". In the said novel, he pictured a certain Crisostomo Ibarra, who, after being able to study in Europe went back home to the Philippines to establish a school. In this scenario, Rizal himself was able to identify that no amount of effort would lead to such advancement if the authorities continuously have policies that are unfavorable for its implementation.
In the current scenario, we have a government that is facilitated by the Filipinos whom we elected. We thought that since our fellow Filipinos are ruling us, we are to expect that they would want to carry on with the vision of advancement for the welfare of our nation, but these are all false hopes. What we really have, in general, is a system that favors those who are already able. Thus, we have a society that clings on the elite.
True national progress, and Rizal would agree, could be realized by the establishment of people and organizations that aim to empower its members. Rizal even founded the La Liga Filipina for this matter. It however did not reach one year because of the malicious speculations of the authorities at that time.
We have politicians that spend most of their fortune in building their names and not the country. We have several scientists who prioritize other countries in exchange for a higher intellectual fee, profiting from their ideas. We have students who care only about finishing their degree then afterwards working for multinational companies that eat up a large percentage of the market share that could have been left for small businesses to sustain their growth.
The letter of Rizal to Fr. Garcia holds true until this present time. Reality continues to haunt us that there is still smallness in the advancement of our own race. What we need are more Rizals who would share their knowledge to their fellow men, those who would establish small schools that teach people without a fee (Transfer of Knowledge), those who would construct irrigation systems that will help supply water to farmlands of people living in a particular community (Use of Knowledge) and those who are willing to set up clinics where people suffering from illnesses can be treated (Embodiment of Relevant Knowledge).
Some talented men have died without giving us anything but the fame in their name. But people who gave up their talents for their country are considered heroes who will never die. These are the people that this generation and the generations to come would praise for their contributions.
Pinpin, Pilapil, Fr. Pelaez, Fr. Mariano Garcia, Joson, Benedicto Luna, Lorenzo and Francisco, do we still know these people? They were famous only for a particular period of time but they are forgotten like the leaves of an old tree slowly withering. This is indeed a sad fact. Their failure may not have been accounted to their selfishness but on the maliciousness of their government. But then, how was Rizal able to share his talents and help the people, while being under a similar kind of pressure from the Spanish authority and was in fact a prisoner in Dapitan at that time? This only proves the fact that a noble intention will never be stopped by anything.
No kind of government, no matter how rotten it is, could stop the blossoming of initiatives coming from people who really have a genuine intention of helping others.
We need more people who are willing to give up a part of themselves for their community and for the country. These people, I tell you, will never die in the hearts and minds of society.
And as Rizal wrote,
Land that I love farewell, 0 Land the Sun loves,
Pearl in the Sea of the Orient, Eden lost your breed. . .
Gaily go I to present you this hapless hopeless life,
Where it more brilliant: had it more freshness, more bloom:
Still for you would I give it, would give it for your good!
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TOPH Bernardo
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