LEGACY

Considering how our world had evolved from its simpler way of things to its modernized versions, peoples’ attributes have also changed and
by digging deeper into how humans behave nowadays, people often disregard the weight and value of their words and actions. They just freely speak
or do anything they want, without actually realizing the value of their thoughts and actions. Take for example the word hero, when people hear this
word, there is actually nothing that are valued from this word, or in simple words, people often disregard the history, stories and values behind the
word hero. People may commemorate soldiers who died in the battlefield or past heroes who died for the country, but they don’t usually appreciate
the weight and value of the sacrifices that these heroes made for the country. Which is why the concept of hero is very important to study, in order for
us to truly appreciate our real-life heroes and have clear distinctions between generous and heroic acts. Reeve, C., (2013), once stated that a hero is an
ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles. After taking the introductory lesson, with
regards to Rizal’s Life and Works as a pre-requisite course in college, my own thoughts and understanding of a hero, was inclined to Reeve’s
statement and definition of a hero. A hero is not just a simple title given to anyone who just did some generous act, but we should consider it to be a
noble and valuable title that should be given only to selected individuals who truly exhibited heroic acts, just like our National Hero, Jose Rizal. We
should understand that when we say that a specific individual did a heroic act, we should truly examine the value and nature of the act, and should
not easily give or declare the title of being a hero to anyone, since it would be a disgrace to our true heroes who did far more generous and selfless
acts than these people. That is why indeed, former Philippine President, Jose P. Laurel was right to formulate a law enabling the sincere and deeper
study of Jose Rizal’s life and works, which is now known as the Republic Act No. 1425, in order for us to furtherly understand his contributions and
sacrifices for our country’s independence and also to appreciate the true value and meaning of being a hero. With regards to the lesson; Legal Basis
of Rizal Course – Recognizing one’s purpose and potential to become a hero, I could say that the word that will summarize the lesson for me would
be LEGACY. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defined legacy, as something transmitted by or received from an ancestor or predecessor or from the
past, while Bosak, S.V., (2016), stated that legacy is about life and living. It's about learning from the past, living in the present, and building for the
future. I used the word LEGACY to summarize the introductory lesson, simply because the whole life and works of Rizal, was his legacy for the
country and for the Filipinos. Specifically, the lesson and the subject course itself, depicts Rizal’s legacy because it contains the legacy of the heroic
acts he did for our country’s independence, the legacy of his portrayal of a true hero and the legacy of the Nationalism that he had induced to early
and even to modern-day Filipinos.

The subject course, Life and Works of Rizal, depicts the legacy of the heroic acts of our National Hero, Jose Rizal, because it entails the
details of his physical journey, writings, nationalistic acts, sufferings and even death. Through the comprehensive contents of this subject course,
modern-day Filipinos were still able to visualize, understand and realize the heroic and selfless acts that Rizal did for our country’s independence.
Second, the subject course also depicts the legacy of his portrayal of a true hero, because it elaborates the specific acts and events in the life of our
National Hero, where his decisions and actions are not selfish and violent, yet aggressive and nationalistic. He left such a legacy where he clearly
defined and illustrated the ideals and characteristics of a true real-life hero, which is why his life and works also left a legacy of how we could
visualize and illustrate a true hero. Lastly, the subject course also depicts the legacy of the Nationalism that he had induced to early Filipinos, even
until now. The subject course contains details of how Rizal’s journey and life works ignited the Nationalism of early Filipinos and caused them to
have stronger will towards independence. It was also detailed in the subject course, how these stronger senses of Nationalism of early Filipinos, had
led them to stronger and more aggressive rebellion and resistance to Spanish colonizers. Even on our modern society, Rizal’s ideals of heroism still
continuous to ignite Nationalism on us Filipinos.

The giving and getting of legacy can bring out, at the same time, the whole range of fundamental human feelings: trust, yearning, lament,
nervousness, dread, fear, desire, harshness, rage, a feeling of disappointment, a feeling of achievement, pride, happiness, satisfaction, appreciation,
modesty and love. The idea of legacy may help us remember demise, yet it's not about death. Remembering death could also be something to be
thankful for, on the grounds that passing lessons in life. It gives you a viewpoint on what is really significant. Yet, legacy is truly about everyday life
and experience. It encourages us to choose the sort of everyday routine we need to experience and the sort of world we need to live in. Legacy is
foundational to what it is to be human. In our life as humans, we also want to leave legacies of our own that could be remembered and appreciated by
our grandchildren and many more generations to come, but considering the size and weight of Rizal’s legacy, it would indeed require huge heroic
acts to leave such a noble legacy. Nevertheless, it is not actually necessary to just focus our daily lives in creating the legacy that we will pass onto
our children. If our lives have been significant to them, then our stories would be our legacies. What really matters is to appreciate the legacies left
onto us and continue to live by the ideals and lessons as gifts from our ancestors and real-life heroes.