Aimee Lorraine C. Capinpuyan 12/5/2011

Rizal the Scientist: A Reflection

Before I attended the Rizal's Science: A Struggle for Faith, Reason and Knowledge last November 25, Rizal to me was just somebody I looked up to. This didn’t mean a lot – I looked up to hundreds of people I didn’t know anything about. I had as much respect for him as I did for Jennifer Anniston. He was just another famous guy who, aside from being mega talented and smart, also happened to be a Filipino. However I find that after listening to Dr. Michael L. Tan’s talk about Rizal the scientist, Rizal the artist, and Rizal the Christian, nothing has really changed my opinion on him.

The talk did show me a side of Rizal I never knew existed. I know now that as a teenager, he had bad hair, experimented with marijuana, and loved to read. However what struck me the most in Dr. Tan’s talk was the part where he disclosed Rizal’s correspondence with his mother about Christianity. As a young man, Rizal had told his mother that even though he considered himself a Christian and tried to adhere to the Christian values, he would not stop learning or practicing science. This little bit of his life is important to me as it shows how at his age, he was already outspoken and passionate for knowledge. He rebelled against his mother and stood up for what he believed in. I think that as a young scientist, this is especially hard to do. It’s not easy being the one to break the mold. It takes a lot of courage and confidence in yourself.

The talk went on to describe Rizal as a hardworking intellectual, laboriously copying Morga’s Sucesos by hand and poring over book after book in libraries. As a person engaged in medicine, he was an advocate of the germ theory at a time when the more widely accepted view was the miasmic theory. This shows again how he marched to the beat of his own drummer.

Having said this, Rizal exemplifies all values I wish I possessed: bravery, dedication, passion, intellect, charisma, creativity. However, as shiny and shimmery as his reputation seems to be, he is still just another character in my history books, another man whose biography I am required by CHED to learn about. When I will be studying for my exams tonight, I am not going to be thinking, Rizal was so dedicated, I yearn to be like him. When I graduate, or get married, or give birth to my first child, I am not going to be thinking, Jose Rizal inspired me to do this.

I am not saying that Rizal is of no significance to me whatsoever. Like I said, he is a role model: the Ultimate Filipino, the Ultimate Atenean. But he is not a main character in my life, and unless some piece of evidence goes to show that I am somehow related to him, I doubt that he will ever be.

But, as a young Filipino scientist, he remains to be the one to beat. He has set a standard for the rest of us. He is the benchmark by which every Filipino can compare himself or herself to. He is the intersection of science and faith.