bituin: The Many Faces of Rizal

Hearing the name Rizal raises so much admiration and respect. But what we don’t know and realize is that Rizal is just an ordinary person like everybody else and he’s definitely not of higher being. He farts, eats, loves, sleeps, feels stressed, poops, pees, experiences being heart broken, has fears etc. We just predisposed him in a pedestal where no one can ever be of his level. But the most intriguing about his very being is that he is still controversial and mysterious after all. Here’s a view of his many faces that we tend to ignore or didn’t try to speculate.

HE’S GAY!!!! Well that’s what others say and what I thought after having read the evidences presented. When Rizal writes to his friend Blumentritt they address each other with endearment which is unlikely for two men and the words he uses in his writings that somehow shows his feminine side. Also, the fact that there’s a possibility that he is not the father of the unborn child of Josephine Bracken because she was abused by his step father and that there were no news at all about any of his women getting pregnant. But according to the author of the article “Was Rizal Gay?” the title Gay is not applicable to Rizal since the context of being gay is changing through times.

He’s a snake in the grass!!! He can not resist temptations especially when it comes to women. He tried to take his friend’s love interest and never considered their friendship. He is just a typical man who can not defy his urges.

He has his own share of waterloos!!! He is just a usual student who gets low grades for any subject that is not their interest and in fact studying his high grades or remarks does not make anyone give him an awe expression because in their class almost 98-99% of them gets the same grade as he is.

He has so much diffidence!!! Insecurities drive most of us to succeed and do extraordinary things. So the question of Rizal’s heroism should be into focused. Did Rizal really give his life for our freedom or just out of his whim to make his life be recognized and valued by others? The reason why I raised this issue is because he had a choice before of not returning to our country since he was a hot item for the Spaniards and he knows the danger that awaits him but still he took the risk maybe because his works and aspirations will materialize upon his death.

He is showbiz!!!! Everywhere he goes he loves being pictured. Even upon his death, he hoisted a baffling issue about his retraction.

It is true we tend to convict someone who is beyond being helpless and can not defend him self for the foremost reason that he is not physically present because he’s already dead. But even though we tried to defy him, he is still our national hero and no one has done what he has done to wake and inculcate the significance of patriotism in us despite his motives and intentions of doing his great works.