Fiat voluntas tua

Looking back to Rizal's novels,'Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo,' his other writings, and the way he lived his life, convinced me that the prime duty of a Filipino citizen is to love his country. What does it mean to love ones country? When you love someone, you care about his welfare; you try to do your best to please that person even if it means to sacrifice yourself.

To love our country is to be Pro-active and not just be reactive to what is wrong with the nation. This does not mean that we need to die for our country as what Rizal did. But, we can show our love for our country in our own daily lives.

'LEARN TO EARN' for us, the students, we must try to excel in our studies. In fact in whatever we do, no matter how the job or the chore, let's do our best to excel.

As what Rizal wrote in El Filibusterismo, 'a life not dedicated to a great idea is a useless life'. This means that we have to make something of ourselves. During his exile in Dapitan, he made use of his time to improve his surroundings, he helped rebuild the plaza in front of the St. James Church, and he also made a great relief map of the Mindanao, out of stone, soil and grass. He helped the citizens put up the lamp poso - Dapitanon's first lighting system.

He started a school for boys; he became a farmer and set up a commercial firm to promote enterprises among the Dapitanons.

If there is anything that Rizal's novels like to say, it would be a message of non-violence. We had seen this in his two novels, and in his life. Rizal always appeared violence as a means of charge. Violence is everywhere; it is not limited- on the environment.

When we cut down tress, ignoring the fact that it may cause landslides in the future. It is also committed by several government officials, when they violate human rights that disagree with their policies.

If we live with violence, we cannot strive to excel, for we cannot deeply love our country for we have no love to ourselves and respect for human life.

We should strive to excel and strive to make something of ourselves, because if we make good to ourselves then we can make something good to our country and the common good of the general people, thus we shall be able to promote life.

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