Life of Rizal Essay

One of the most favourite novels of Rizal was the Count of Monte Cristo which was authored by Alexander Dumas. This novel—which portrays the story of Edmond Dantes– instilled his romantic cravings. Accordingly, the life of Edmond Dantes was a story of hope, vengeance, forgiveness, and mercy. This novel was an excellent example of pure wisdom and love. The theme of its story struck Rizal’s genius mind and unique character. The novel became a favourite reading material of the hero during his teenage years. On the other hand, I can say that this story of Edmond Dantes was truly one of a kind during the times of Alexander Dumas. The story would show us the evil side of human person– selfishness and pride. In fact, the events in the story still exist during these times. One good example is the corruption and injustices happening in our country. To name a few: the case of Ampatuan Massacre which until now is still not resolved and the families of the unfortunate victims still not able to taste justice of the crime; and the unending corruption in the Philippines. Furthermore, we can also relate the theme of the story to each of us. The novel was an epic adventure of a human being’s nature and emotions. I can say that it is natural for us to feel angry to those who had wronged us. When we hold grudge to someone, we are compelled to take revenge in order to satisfy our feelings of anger. In fact, this kind of emotional adventure has already happened to me once then and I learned so much out from that experience. Surely, it had also happened to someone else on this planet and many lives are torn apart just because of the selfishness and pride of some people. However, when we surrender everything we feel to God and feeling all those emotions of anger without trying to change anything that has happened to us– we will soon be enlightened and forgiveness will step our way. When everything is already enough and we feel that many people have been affected just because of that feeling of anger and revenge, we start to forgive those who had wronged us. Accordingly, this is one of the best feelings we experience as humans because in forgiveness you see peace and love. When you forgive a person, it means that you are letting go of that grudge and finds your way to peace and happiness. Indeed, the Lord Jesus taught us to forgive those who had wronged us. Even He Himself died in the cross in order for us to be redeemed from our sins and to experience new life. That’s how huge God’s love for us. Thus, it is fine when we have to undergo feelings of anger towards a  person. It is good to feel it rather than rejecting it because when we start running from the truth that we are angry at the person– and all we just feel is revenge– we start to hurt ourselves and others. Our health will be destroyed so much that our relationships will be in much chaos. Perhaps, this novel nurtured the spirit of Rizal to fight Spanish tyranny. He was consciously aware of the atrocities and maltreatment that some Spanish officials and friars did to his fellowmen. Corruption and injustice were everywhere but most of the Filipinos were not aware of it. The powerful Spanish Friars just used the Catholic Religion in order to cover their corrupt actions. But Rizal knew that there was something wrong and he must act to fight it.