Dominic

Kris Dominic L. Rubillos January 13,2012

BS Che 4

FAMILY’S INFLUENCE TO RIZAL

We usually speak of Dr. Jose Rizal as our champion of Freedom, Democracy, and Unity. With this thinking, we should also be aware about the origins and very root of his exemplary virtues and values. In other words we should pave importance to the influences and factors that somehow made him as our national hero. As we commemorate we remember that Jose Rizal bravely exposed and fought the repressive Spanish rule and paid with his life that very day of December 30,1896, three hundred years after the Spanish domination of our country.

Jose Rizal was the ninth child of the 11 children of Francisco Mercado and Teodora Alonzo which were both from Biñan, Laguna. Francisco Mercado was a quiet, dignified, serious minded, hospitable and much respected. With the aforementioned values of his father, we can conclude where Rizal got his deep thinking as we can see with his writings. Rizal was also romantic we can root such trait form hi father’s hospitality. Rizal expresses himself through arts and writings – they were modeled by their father to be a man of few words; if one has nothing to say one should just be silent. Francisco Mercado had had a reasonably good formal education. He married a well-educated woman , Rizal’s Mother, Teodora Alonzo.

Rizal’s hunger for education, knowledge, and Learning was lit into fire by his mother Teodora Alonzo. Teodora Alonzo is no ordinary woman, she is acquainted with literature, speaks Spanish , a mathematician, and has read a lot of books. Like Rizal, they love books. In their home, perfect table manners and perfect deportment were the rule.

Most of all, Rizal was oriented to love one’s family, countrymen, and the country itself. This Nationalism idea was inculcated into Rizal’s biography by his parents who were such helpful people in Laguna. Teodora Alonzo...