In voluntarily working as a psychiatrist to inmates in the WWII concentration camps in Europe where he himself was held captive, tortured, and intended for cremation by the Nazis, Viktor Frankl found that the single most important factor in cultivating the kind of “inner hold” that allowed men to survive, was teaching them to hold in the mind’s grip some future goal. (Man’s Search for Meaning). He quoted Nietzsche who wrote: “He who has a why to live for, can bear with almost any how.”
If that be so, what is the WHY of the Order of the Knights of Rizal so that we, the members, wouldn’t mind any of the HOW?
Section 2 of R.A. 646, the charter of our organization, provides that: “The purposes of this corporation shall be to study the teachings of Dr. Jose Rizal, to inculcate and propagate them in and among all classes of the Filipino people, and by words and deeds to exhort our citizenry to emulate and practice the examples and teachings of our national hero; to promote the associated knights the spirit of patriotism and Rizalian chivalry, to develop a perfect union among the Filipinos in revering the memory of Dr. Jose Rizal and to organize and hold programs commemorative of Rizal’s nativity and martyrdom.”
In inculcating and propagating Dr. Rizal’s teachings in and among all classes of the Filipino people, and in exhorting by words and deeds our citizenry to emulate and practice the examples and teachings of our national hero, we, the Knights of Rizal, seek to help realize Dr. Rizal’s cause and vision of a free, dignified, self-respecting, and respected Philippines for which he died.
As we recall, Jose Rizal wrote in his Last Farewell:
“My dreams when scarcely a lad adolescent,
my dreams when a young man all filled with vigor,
were to see you one day, jewel of the Sea of the Orient:
the dark eyes dry, the smooth forehead held high unbent -
without frown, without wrinkles, without stains of high color.”
In the following stanza of the same poem, Dr. Rizal poignantly exclaimed:
“Dream of my life, my ardent, living passion and rallying cry:
Health, shouts to you the soul that soon shall go and depart!
Health! O, how beautiful it is to fall to give you power to fly,
to die to give you vigor to live, beneath your heaven to die,
and in your enchanted land, to sleep in eternity never apart.”
And what dreams they are! They see Inang Bayan cool, calm, collected, and confident of overcoming whatever life may throw her way - without any reason for worry, doubt, or shame; they observe her moving with self-esteem as her children mutually respect each other; and they notice her standing with dignity respected by other nations, as she knows how to fight when it is right.
These are the dreams we are called upon to actualize. These are the visions we, the Knights of Rizal, have as the benchmarks for our organizational plans and actions, following his light.
Truth, reason, wisdom, information, compassion, knowledge, justice, divine love of country, and associated ideals, constitute and form part of Jose Rizal's light; and this light continues to shine, in alignment with what has been written: “et lux in tenebris lucet” (and the light shineth in the darkness); and the darkness did not apprehend, comprehend, or master the light; and the darkness did not extinguish, overcome, or overtake the light. (cf John 1:5) Walking under and guided by this “unconquerable light in the dark”, we the Knights of Rizal stand by the motto: Non omnis moriar. (Not every thing in me shall die.) For our lights, too, modelled after Dr. Rizal’s, shall go on, even though these may no longer be housed in the ephemeral tents we temporarily have as bodies.
We, the Knights of Rizal, hold on to this timeless Rizalian light, which can be equally applicable to similar human situations, as it is meant for sharing: (a) Dr. Rizal’s irrepressible hope expressed in the El Filibusterismo that “the future of the Philippines will be beautiful because it will be in loving hands…” in line with, and as the result of working, the only motto that he suggested: “For The Welfare Of The Native Land”; and (b) Dr. Rizal’s abiding confidence in our inexorable march towards progress as envisioned in the chorus of his Himno a Talisay [read Talisay as Filipinas]:
“Hail, Talisay!
Firm and constant,
always advancing,
you shall prosper.
You, triumphant,
all elements -
sea, land and air:
you shall master!”
That is why we, the Knights of Rizal, uphold and embrace as our own, Dr. Rizal’s faith and expectation that the generations to follow shall triumph! In his Mi Retiro, he wrote:
“And I have faith, and I hope it must shine one day
when the force of idea conquers the brutality of force,
that after the struggle and the protracted agony,
a voice other than mine, more sonorous, more happy,
will know how to sing the triumphal song perforce.”
And so we, the Knights of Rizal, commit ourselves to: (a) keeping our own Rizalian lights ablaze, doing so with focused thoughts, emotions, and actions, in resolute devotion and hope along Dr. Rizal’s ideals; and (b) having full faith that the country – Inang Bayan – shall sing the song of victory through the force of her people’s ideas and continuing concerted actions, for we know from Dr. Rizal that “victory is the child of struggle, joy blossoms from suffering, and redemption is a product of sacrifice” (Como se Gobiernan en Filipinas).
We, the Knights of Rizal, hold in our minds and hearts Dr. Rizal’s above-described “dreams of overcoming” and “visions of triumph” through purposive and, if need be, sacrificial actions, all pursued with persistent perseverance; we commit to helping bring these dreams and visions to reality among our own people, our government, and our territory, in the context of our national sovereignty.
We, the Knights of Rizal, deem the national territory, as our "sacred sanctuary", as Dr. Rizal alluded to in Himno a Talisay; and we hold this territory as "our leafy haven, our tranquility serene, rest for our brains, and silence for our pains", as he suggested in Mi Retiro.
With love and respect we, the Knights of Rizal, honor Inang Bayan (Mother Country) as the perla del mar de oriente (pearl of the orient sea): the pearl being the only jewel formed out of living matter, made iridescent by layers of nacre over irritating grains of sand or bits of stone, like the continuing irritations and injuries still daily besetting our land, in terms of corruption, injustices, inequities, and oppressive conditions that are layered with the sweat, tears, and yes, the blood, of our peoples.
We, the Knights of Rizal pledge: to help in drying out Inang Bayan’s tears of sorrow; to aid in expunging all sense of helplessness in her; and to assist in her appreciation of the divine fact that at every moment man has a choice, to include letting oneself be pierced by the thorns of destiny, for the One Source of All does not dish out difficulties we cannot handle. We promise to dedicate our lives to deepening national moral rootedness to be the foundation rock upon which national equitable material prosperity is being built.
We wish to share Dr. Jose Rizal globally, if possible in every country, as his visions, principles, and teachings are applicable to human conditions where exploitation, indignity, inequality, inequity, injustice, oppression, untruth, violations of human rights and other sub-human conditions exist and abound.
We the Knights of Rizal look forward to seeing our country inevitably transform and unfold unto a nation that continually adjusts and overcomes: in unity and solidarity; in self-esteem and mutual respect; in internal harmony, goodwill, and cooperation; and in confidence, calmness, and abiding joy.
All these constitute the statement of our reason WHY: our raison d’etre (reason for being).
Mabuhay, Knights of Rizal!
______________________
By Sir Edwin D Bael, KGOR (Author's Note: These are thoughts that I humbly propose to my brother Knights of Rizal for adoption as strategic guide to our organizational actions. Please take into account these are still proposed ideas and not (yet) adopted as official KOR statement; suggestions for refinement, addition, subtraction, or modification are welcome).
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