SOME DREAMS MUST DIE

A dear friend of mine mentioned in an email the work entitled “For Dreams Must Die” which involved Dr. Rizal and wondered whether our dream of a truly democratic Philippines must also somehow die; he queried whether “real democracy, along the aspirations of Dr. Rizal and many other(s) of our noble heroes, (will) ever see the light of day in the old country”. And he answered, saying: “For as long as justice remains on the side of the haves, against the have nots, real democracy as we know it in the United States and other free countries will never reign supreme in nuestra patria adorada!”

These questions are very important, focusing as they do on two quintessential elements that bring “humanness” into our existence: dreams and justice. Both speak to our imperfect nature that most of the time seeks and struggles for what is due and what ought to be.

On the matter of dreams, the Philippine Elibrary (http://www.elib.gov.ph) reveals that "For Dreams Must Die" is a work of fiction by Zoilo M. Galang about the love of Jose Rizal and Leonor Rivera. Fiction aside, sufficient documentation exists to prove the historical fact of Jose and Leonor’s love. Enough historical data also show that Rizal could not pursue (rather, neglected) this love (and other loves) for a love that: “carries with it a divine stamp which renders it eternal and imperishable”; and “among all loves”…“is the greatest, the most heroic and the most disinterested.”1/

In letters to Blumentritt, he confided about Leonor: “When my fiancée (Leonor Rivera) abandoned me, I found that she was right, that I deserved it, but nevertheless my heart was bleeding. Recently I received her letter announcing that soon she would marry – she was always very much solicited by Filipinos and Spaniards.”2/ “My fiancee (Leonor Rivera), who was faithful to me for more than eleven years, is going to marry an Englishman, an engineer of the railroad. Well the first blow of the railroad is for me. However, I prefer this progress to our former situation! When I received the news, I thought I would lose my mind, but that has already passed away and I have to smile, for I must not cry. Oh, do not be surprised that a Filipino woman should prefer the name Kipping (of the engineer) to Rizal. No, don’t be astonished. An Englishman is a free man and I am not. Enough! Let this be the last word!”3/

In other writings, he declared: “In my heart I have suppressed all loves, except that of my native land; in my mind I have erased all ideas which do not signify her progress; and my lips have forgotten the names of the native races in the Philippines in order not to say more than Filipinos.” 4/ “…the thought of my whole life has always been love of my country and her moral and material development…” 5/ “My dreams when a lad, when scarcely adolescent: my dreams when a young man, now with vigor inflamed: were to behold you one day: Jewel of eastern waters: griefless the dusky eyes: lifted the upright brow: unclouded, unfurrowed, unblemished and unashamed”. 6/

He had, in another letter to Blumentritt, reflected pensively: “…in my life, happiness was always followed by misfortune, and the more beautiful the one was, the more terrible the other one appeared… …When I am alone, my gaiety disappears; many confused and sad thoughts assail me; it seems to me as if I had lost something, or as if luck had abandoned me.” 7/

So, in all his humanity, Rizal’s personal romantic dreams with Leonor became a victim of historic circumstances, and thus had to die and be sacrificed, for his larger, national dream – like moth to flames - of seeing the greater glory of the Philippines; as he wrote to Mariano Ponce: “I am very busy these days for I am working ad majorem Phil. gloriam”8/ (a Latin phrase literally meaning ‘to the greater glory of the Philippines’, a paraphrase of the more common expression Ad majorem gloriae Dei.)

I submit Rizal died with his dreams alive: of seeing the Philippines holding high her brow serene, no matter how long it would take. I also submit his undying vision of a more beautiful Philippines 9/ galvanized his "last ounce of courage" to turn himself as his consciousness came to an end and his body was flung forward by the firing squad's bullets on his back such that, when he landed, his face looked towards the open and limitless sky instead of being slammed into the limited confines of the ground. The significance of that act compels us, new generations of Filipinos, to actualize his dream.

So, will real democracy ever be realized in our country? It all depends on us, the Filipino people: whether we can overcome the momentum of innumerable "impossibilities" incessantly drilled into our minds since "time immemorial" to include the concept of true democracy.

But before we talk more about democracy, let’s turn our attention first to the matter of justice.

Rizal wrote that: “Justice is the foremost virtue of civilized nations. It subdues the most barbarous nations; injustice excites the weakest to rebellion.” 10/ and “…there is nothing that wins man more than the idea of justice, serene, without hatred or fury, as there is nothing like injustice to arouse his indignation.” 11/ As virtue or as idea, justice refers to the "habitual inclination of the will" and "the constant and permanent determination to give everyone his or her rightful due." 12/ If our justice system favors only the rich, then that system is not giving every one his/her rightful due when redress of grievance is applied for, and we could as well call it an injustice system.

Whether worth calling justice or injustice system, the many aspects of law enforcement, prosecution, adjudication, incarceration, etc. all make up a composite function of government. But government, democratic or not, is a function of whether the people can and do effectively assert their role as citizens and ultimate sovereigns of the Republic. In sum, justice administration is a function of government and government is a function of people.

On the latter relationship, Rizal wrote: “People and government are correlated and complementary. A stupid government is an anomaly among a righteous people, just as a corrupt people cannot exist under just rulers and wise laws. Like people, like government, we will say, paraphrasing a popular adage.” 13/

If we might paraphrase Rizal in turn: we need righteous people and/or just rulers; let’s just assume for the moment we already have wise laws for it is generally felt our problem mainly lies in the area of implementation. With this formulation, we have three options, namely: (1) righteous people, (2) just rulers, or (3) both righteous people and just rulers. Obviously, the third is ideal, but it requires the realization of the first and the second options. The second could perhaps be achievable if elections were not largely based on money and the people were to choose wisely. The first needs radical changes in the hearts, minds and behaviors of enough of our people to form a critical mass that can effect changes in national values and overcome the momentum of centuries of negativity and impossibility conditioning.

Since the second option presumes that people would choose wisely regardless of money involved, realization of the first appears to be its precondition. It seems then that we are left with the first as the choice that promises true and lasting change. The radical changes in t-e-a (thoughts, emotions, actions) that this first alternative necessarily implies, can perhaps transpire if enough of us follow St. Paul’s urging: "Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your minds, so that you may judge what is God's will, what is good, pleasing, and perfect."14/ This ‘renewal of minds’ seems to be “the way” to attain “the spirit that gives life and not just the letter that kills” of our Constitution and laws, and thus allow us to approach or approximate “the ways of the kingdom of God, where kingdom citizens have the perfect law of righteousness in their hearts”.15/

Democracy, I submit, is part of God's good, pleasing, and perfect will, as He made each one of us in His own image16/, individually endowing us with inalienable power to choose. This ‘power to choose’ gets wielded by the righteousness or unrighteousness in our hearts and, depending on which character we allow to prevail or resolve to uphold, serves as the fount for the quality of democracy we enjoy. In Rizal’s view, democracy is not really that impossible to do, for it simply boils down to helping each other out and working together for common ends: “He who wants to help himself should help others because if he neglects others, he too will be neglected by them. One midrib is easy to break, but not a bundle of many midribs tied together.”17/

Along these lines, we might want to have our own “t-e-a party” for righteousness!

In closing, the question we might want to ask is: how long will it take us, as a people, to change our dynamic set of beliefs, feelings, attitudes and behavior patterns regarding real democracy, from "cannot be" to "can be"? One cannot exactly tell. But, if we are to “encourage one another and build one another up”18/, then yes, it shall come to pass, in God's own time... And yes, the destiny of the Philippines will be beautiful because a critical mass of enlightened Filipinos shall hold it in their loving hands!! That’s the dream that must never die!!!
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1/ “Love of Country”, La Solidaridad, Madrid, 31 October 1890.
2/ Letter to Blumentritt, Biarritz, 29 March 1891, Epistolario Rizalino, V, Part II, No. 94, p.584.
3/ Letter to Blumentritt, Brussels, 23 April 1891, Epistolario Rizalino, V, Part II, No. 95, p. 589
4/ “Farewell to 1883”, Speech
5/ Letter to the Governor and Captain General of the Philippine Islands, Hongkong, 21 Mar 1892, Epistolario Rizalino, III No. 577, p. 306
6/ 4th Stanza, Ultimo Adios, 1896, Nick Joaquin translation
7/ Letter to Blumentritt, Brunn, 19 May 1887, Epistolario Rizalino, V, No. 22, pp. 134-135
8/ Letter to Mariano Ponce, Epistolario Rizalino, II, No. 191, p. 46
9/ “Tomorrow we shall be citizens of the Philippines whose destiny will be beautiful because it will be in loving hands.” El Filibusterismo, Ghent, 1891, p. 191.
10/ “The Philippines a Century Hence”, La Solidaridad, 15 December 1889.
11/ “Let Us Be Just”, La Solidaridad, 15 April 1890.
12/ http://catholicism.about.com/od/beliefsteachings/p/Justice.htm; Fr. John A. Hardon, Modern Catholic Dictionary,
13/ “The Indolence of the Filipinos”, La Solidaridad, 15 September 1890.
14/ Romans 12:2, NAB
15/ http://www.free-ebooks.net/ebook/123-What-Are-Christians-Fighting-For-/html/4#read; What Are Christians Fighting For?” by John Jones, p. 4.
16/ Genesis 1:27, NAB
17/ Message to the Women of Malolos, Europe, February 1889, Epistolario Rizalino, II Doc. No. 223, p.117
18/ 1 Thessalonians 5:11, NAB