Pen is Mightier Than Sword

  

* image credit to peachyqtz of deviantart .com Rizal-Pen-61071597

    Who would not have known Jose P. Rizal? The Philippine National hero had written the famous novel Noli Me Tangere (Touch Me Not) and its sequel, El Filibusterismo (The Greediness). Jose Rizal proved that the pen is mightier than the sword through these two novels tackling issues and problems in the government and society. These two novels somehow contributed to the Philippine independence, a long tyranny from the Spanish regime. 

     Noli Me Tangere was written based on an excerpt from a Bible verse in the book of John 20:13-17 wherein a leper was made to wear a note announcing his leprosy so that people he met would avoid and stop bothering him. Noli Me Tangere depicts the social cancer the Philippines have had even up to now. The novel discusses the Philippine culture under Spanish influence, the vices and habits of the Filipino people, and the powerful Roman Catholic church, which was more powerful than those in government positions during those times. Jose Rizal was 26 years old when it was first published in 1887. Every character from that novel represented every facet of Philippine society, from every Filipino home to its neighborhood to gatherings, to education, to the church, and to the government.

      Three years later, El Filibusterismo, a sequel to Noli Me Tangere, was published. Rizal dedicated the book in honor of the three Filipino martyr priests,  GOMBURZA, (Fathers Gomez, Burgos, & Zamora). El Filibusterismo depicts the political and educational situation of the Filipinos from the Spanish regime, making the Filipino reader clamor for real independence and democracy.

       These two novels somehow influenced and helped ignite the Filipinos' emotions and cravings for freedom, which led to the Filipino revolution, but Rizal remained on what he believed was a peaceful means of acquiring freedom and asking for direct representation of the Filipinos to the Spanish government, through his pen, through his writings.
     Today, June 19, 2011, marks the 150th birthday of the Philippine national hero who paved the way for the Philippine independence, along with hundreds of Filipinos who shed their blood for the freedom we Filipinos are enjoying now.