Rizal is commonly known as the hero of the Philippines.

An amazing man and an inspiring leader, he led a wonderfully fulfilled life, and is credited for starting the Philippine Revolution that ended Spanish colonial rule in the Philippines. He also first wrote on the idea to unite the people of the Philippines into "Filipino" instead of a group of different tribes on different islands. It was this unity that he inspired that gave them the power to become the first Asian country free of imperialistic rule. Jose Rizal was born in Calamba, Lugana, on June 19, 1861. He was the seventh child of eleven, with nine sisters and one brother. He was an incredibly intelligent student, with a passion and aptitude for language. At three his mother taught him the alphabet, and he learned to read and write at age five. From an early age he was an artist, sketching and molding clay. He wrote his first poem at age eight (in Tagalog) called "Sa Aking Mga Kabata", about the love of one's language. He was truly a linguist, beyond any match. Before reaching his thirties was fluent in 22 languages and wrote 20 of them. These included Spanish, French, Latin and German, Portuguese, Italian, English, Dutch, Arabic, Swedish, Russian, Chinese, Greek, Hebrew, Japanese, Sanskrit, Tagalog, as well as numerous filipino dialects. As a young boy he learned Latin and Spanish as well as painting from tutors, but proving to be very intelligent, he was sent to continue his studies in Manila, the capitol of the Philippines. At age sixteen he received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Ateneo Municipal de Manila. He became a fully accredited surveyor at seventeen, but was too young to work in the field. He decided to continue his studies in Spain and attended the Universidad Central de Madrid. At the age of twenty-four, he had a degree in Medicine as well as Philosophy and Letters.

He became a universal social genius. Among his many talents were: art,

education,

ethnology, inventing, writing, musicianship, ecology, poetry, propaganda, psychology, science, mythology, sculpting, sociology, cartography, fencing, engineering, philosophy, and theology. Most notably, Jos Rizal was a novelist, and his two books Noli me Tangere and El Filbusterismo are said to have started the revolution. Much like Uncle Tom's Cabin, Noli me Tangere and its sequel, El Filbusterismo were simple stories about everyday life in the Philippines, but it opened the world's eyes, and most notably the Filipino's eyes about the brutality and injustice of the Spanish friars who held an incredible amount of power in their society. They were banned in the Philippines, but were beloved books by all common people in the Philippines, a documentation of their lives. Rizal had to publish Noli by himself, and only produced 2000 copies, originally. It is now required reading for all Filipino college students. After publishing El Filbusterismo, Rizal returned to the Philippines in danger with the government for exposing their treatment of the people. He fled and lived in exile in Dapitan, where he worked as an agriculturist, as well as a scientist. He started a school and taught kids both English and Spanish as well as art. He opened and maintained a hospital,and built a dam. He kept a huge record of correspondence with men abroad about his ideas and his life, and this is where most of the information on his life comes from.

The Philippine Revolution began on August 26, 1896. Rizal did not support a bloody Revolution. Although he spent his life exposing the Spanish government, he believed a reform should come peacefully, from high powered people, not violently from the peasants. He fled the Philippines to avoid being associated with the revolution, volunteering to treat patients with yellow fever in Cuba, but he was caught en route by the Spanish and sent back to the Philippines. Upon arrival he was given an unfair trial and condemned to being the "soul" that fueled the revolution, as well as rebellion and forming illegal association. He was sentenced to death. Jos Rizal was publicly executed by firing squad on December 30, 1896. He was a beautiful example to all Filipinos that they could be more educated and more powerful than the Spanish. He was a peaceful man to his last, writing his last letter to his friend pleading "I have been convicted of rebellion I did not commit." Though usually seen as a political leader, Rizal's interests were in the arts,and language, not in rebellion. He died innocent, and his death marked the end of Spanish rule. The Philippines became independent on June 12,1898, less than two years after Rizal's death. In The Philippines today, December 30, the day of his execution is "Rizal Day". It is a day of celebration and remembrance for their national hero, who started a revolution with words. Jos Rizal's most famous poem was written on the eve of his execution. He hid it in an alcohol burner, and gave it to his sister. Originally untitled, it has adopted the name "Mi ltimo Adis" (My Last Farewell), and, less commonly, "Adios, Patria Adorada" (Farewell, Beloved Country). It has been translated into 38 languages as well as 46 Filipino dialects. When the Philippine Organic Act was being debated in the U.S. Congress, Congressman Henry Cooper of Wisconsin recited an English translation of the poem with the question, "Under what clime or what skies has tyranny claimed a nobler victim?"

Mi ltimo Adis
Farewell, beloved Country, treasured region of the sun, Pearl of the sea of the Orient, our lost Eden! To you eagerly I surrender this sad and gloomy life; And were it brighter, fresher, more florid, Even then Id give it to you, for your sake alone. In fields of battle, deliriously fighting,

Others give you their lives, without doubt, without regret; The place matters not: where theres cypress, laurel or lily, On a plank or open field, in combat or cruel martyrdom, Its all the same if the home or country asks. I die when I see the sky has unfurled its colors And at last after a cloak of darkness announces the day; If you need scarlet to tint your dawn, Shed my blood, pour it as the moment comes, And may it be gilded by a reflection of the heavens newly-born light. My dreams, when scarcely an adolescent, My dreams, when a young man already full of life, Were to see you one day, jewel of the sea of the Orient, Dry those eyes of black, that forehead high, Without frown, without wrinkles, without stains of shame. My lifelong dream, my deep burning desire, This soul that will soon depart cries out: Salud! To your health! Oh how beautiful to fall to give you flight, To die to give you life, to die under your sky, And in your enchanted land eternally sleep. If upon my grave one day you see appear, Amidst the dense grass, a simple humble flower, Place it near your lips and my soul youll kiss, And on my brow may I feel, under the cold tomb, The gentle blow of your tenderness, the warmth of your breath. Let the moon see me in a soft and tranquil light, Let the dawn send its fleeting radiance, Let the wind moan with its low murmur, And should a bird descend and rest on my cross, Let it sing its canticle of peace. Let the burning sun evaporate the rains, And with my clamor behind, towards the sky may they turn pure;

Let a friend mourn my early demise, And in the serene afternoons, when someone prays for me, O Country, pray to God also for my rest! Pray for all the unfortunate ones who died, For all who suffered torments unequaled, For our poor mothers who in their grief and bitterness cry, For orphans and widows, for prisoners in torture, And for yourself pray that your final redemption youll see. And when the cemetery is enveloped in dark night, And there, alone, only those who have gone remain in vigil, Disturb not their rest, nor the mystery, And should you hear chords from a zither or psaltery, It is I, beloved Country, singing to you. And when my grave, then by all forgotten, has not a cross nor stone to mark its place, Let men plow and with a spade scatter it, And before my ashes return to nothing, May they be the dust that carpets your fields. Then nothing matters, cast me in oblivion. Your atmosphere, your space and valleys Ill cross. I will be a vibrant and clear note to your ears, Aroma, light, colors, murmur, moan, and song, Constantly repeating the essence of my faith. My idolized country, sorrow of my sorrows, Beloved Filipinas, hear my last good-bye. There I leave you all, my parents, my loves. Ill go where there are no slaves, hangmen nor oppressors, Where faith doesnt kill, where the one who reigns is God. Goodbye, dear parents, brother and sisters, fragments of my soul, Childhood friends in the home now lost, Give thanks that I rest from this wearisome day;

Goodbye, sweet foreigner, my friend, my joy; Farewell, loved ones, to die is to rest.

Rizal's Novels Articles published in a fortnightly were obviously not enough to attract the attention
of the Spanish government. Seeing that Marcelo del Pilar was editing the paper with rare ability, assisted by a sufficient number of competent contributors, Rizal left its staff to give his work a more fit and forceful vehicle. It was necessary to, picture the miseries of the Filipinos more movingly, so that the abuses, and the afflictions they caused might be publicly revealed in the most vivid colours of reality. Only a novel could combine all these attractions, and Rizal set himself to writing novels. The preface of the "Noli me tangere"states the purpose of its author, which was no other than to expose the sufferings of the Filipino people to the public gaze, as the ancients did with their sick so that the merciful and generous might suggest and apply a suitable care. The principal character of the novel was the only scion of a wealthy family of mixed Spanish and Filipino blood. Ibarra, for that was the name he bore, had been enrolled at a very early age in the Ateneo, the Manila municipal school run by the Jesuits; afterward his father had sent him to Europe to complete his studies. Having had little to do there with his countrymen, it was not to be wondered at that upon his return to the islands Ibarra should know so little about his own country that when Elias a approached him in the name of the persecuted and oppressed, appealing to him to work for the reforms that could mitigate their fate he should answer that he was convinced it was not yet time to change the existing regime in the islands because it was the most suitable for the present state of development of the Filipinos. It could not be doubted that Ibarra really loved his country, and yet, in all faith, he believed what he said because he was happy, because he loved with all his heart a childhood friend, the daughter of the friar who was the parish priest of his hometown, and his love as tenderly returned. In one of those poet ic outbursts proper to those in love, he promised his sweetheart, the personification of his native land, that he would undertake at his own cost the construction of public works much needed in the town, such as a good building for a public school.

For his part the parish priest could not allow, and felt it his obligation to prevent, the
union of his daughter with Ibarra because the Filipinos and their families were subjected to a thousand persecutions and it were better for her to marry a Spaniard that she might live peacefully in the company of her children. Besides, Ibarra was a subversive who did not even kiss his hand and whose attitude, although polite, was far

from the servile submission required from natives. His anger knew no bounds when the town mayor informed him of Ibarra's plan to build a school-house, and he exploded into such terrible fulminations of reprisal against any who might collaborate in the project that the young man had to have recourse to the provincial governor, the director general of civil administration, and the governor general himself. These authorities lent him their support, but, at the laying of the cornerstone of the school, only Elias saved him by a miracle from certain death.

The young man's situation became more crucial when another friar fell hopelessly in
love with his sweetheart. No Filipino in those times could doubt that the enemy of one friar was the enemy of his Order, and that the enemy of two friars was that of all the religious Orders put together. So it came to pass that, when least expected, a riot broke out to murder the parish priest who, oddly enough, was not to be found in the parishhouse, while the constabulary, on the other hand, was able to surprise and capture a number of the rioters. Whoever among the latter refused to point to Ibarra as the leader and instigator of the insurrection was tortured to death; the stronger ones preferred to die rather than to lie, but many gave in to the severity of their sufferings and in the face of death. Ibarra, warned in time by Elias, was able to escape from the torture and fled to Manila, turning himself in to the higher authorities, who had him shut up in Fort Santiago. Elias saved him anew and, once outside the fortress, told Ibarra that he had buried the latter's money and treasure in a place he described, adding that with these resources Ibarra could live abroad and work from there for the deliverance of his countrymen. Ibarra, because of his wealth and greater learning, would be more useful than Elias, and for this reason Elias, in an effort to save Ibarra from a constabulary pursuit party that was almost upon him, drew them off the track and was killed.

The book contains various other scenes from Philippine life as it actually was, which
are arranged artistically in the novel to give unity of time and place and heighten the interest of the reader. The work's second volume, entitled"El Fulibusterismo", continues the story: Ibarra had escaped abroad where he had grown wealthy from trade; moving on to Cuba, as a jeweler, he had won the friendship of the governor general of the island with expensive gifts, and lent them the money needed to secure from the Ministry a transfer to the Philippines, where the governorship was more lucrative. Thus, under another name and with the security afforded by his position as the new governor general's intimate friend and confidante, his eyes always covered by enormous dark glasses to avoid his being recognized, Ibarra was able to return to. the Philippines and dedicate himself, heart and soul, to his campaign of subversion.

This consisted in deepening the blindness and .inciting the base passions of the
authorities so that, by carrying to an extreme the abuses and oppressions inflicted on the natives, they should drive the latter from exasperation to rage and thus to revolution. The lamentations of the oppressed reached up to heaven, and, if they did not move the oppressors to compassion, it was because their hearts were harder than stone. But in spite of all, the people did not rise, their patience was. greater. than Ibarra's, whose heart burnt with the desire to avenge his ruined future and lost happiness. Unable to Wait any longer, he prepared a great banquet to be attended by the higher authorities and principal families of Manila, and planted a dynamite mine under the house which would explode. before the end of the feast. Then, taking advantage of the confusion such a disaster would cause, lbarra, at. the head of a gang of outlaws who were at his orders, would force his way Into Intramuros, take his sweetheart away from the Santa Clara nunnery, and escape with her. A Filipino, to whom Ibarra confided his plans, was so horrified by the proposed crime that he frustrated it, and this led to the discovery of the plot, Ibarra, pursued and mortally wounded, took refuge in the house of Father Florentino, who made him see the, error of his ways. Shortly thereafter, overcome by sorrow and remorse because he had not spent his time on useful benefactions, Ibarra died. Father Florentino, to whom lbarra had left a chest filled with jewels, threw into the, sea all the wealth which had been the cause. And origin of untold sufferings, so that it might cease to work evil, calling instead on the virtuous youths ready to offer the sacrifice of their pure and stainless blood to obtain from heaven the salvation of the native land.

The foregoing extract from his works shows that Rizal made it his purpose to give, in
particular, two pieces of advice which might serve as warnings not only to the Spaniards but also to the Filipinos. By the first, he served notice on the Spaniards that, if the Spanish government in order to please the friar remained deaf to the demands of the Filipino people, the latter would have recourse in, desperation to violent means and seek in independence relief for its sorrows; and by the second, he warned the Filipinos that, if they should take up their country's cause motivated by personal hatred and ambition, they would, far from helping it, only make it suffer all the more. He wanted to say that only those actions would benefit the Filipinos which were dictated by true patriotism, which not only demands the sacrifice to the common good of personal revenges and ambitions, but also requires, when necessary, the disinterestedness and abnegation of Elias. Did the Spaniards know how to profit by this advice to them? Or the Filipinos by that given to them? If the reader has the patience to follow me in this brief study, which I shall try to make impartial so it may be the more enlightening, I hope that at its conclusion he may answer these questions for himself. For the time being let him be content with the observation that very few Spaniards read Rizal's novels because they had been written by a subversive, and that

not many Filipinos read them either because their publication and reading in the islands were prohibited. Sin, says the proverb, is its own expiation.