To each his own.

I did this blog on retreat, unfortunately, I only had time to post it now. Yes, we are that busy. Has anybody gone to a Bigkis retreat? As not to spoil everything, I shall only give a brief summary about it. Bigkis is an actual camp where the activities lean on rough, outdoor and fun yet its lessons are relevant. Every time we ate, there's a skit on superheroes. The characters were comprised of: Flash, Captain Barbell and Maulawin. We all know that no one was born a hero. Everyone is born a human being capable of committing mistakes and what not. Even Jesus was said to have been having a relationship with a prostitute back in the day, and that's already Jesus!

Back to my superhero story, you see, superheroes have this whole other side to them. Say, Superman has Clark Kent--accidentally becoming a hero. Spiderman has another identity which is Peter Parker who is a geek in the day in love with the popular girl. Heck, even our very own; Lastikman has a "normal" identity as the school nobody named Miguel/Migz. The question is, why do writers create a whole other personality/identity aside from his or hers superhero identity? That's probably so we can know them better.

Jose Rizal was probably a superhero too. He did everything. He did everything perfectly at that. He had a perfect execution too. Facing the people who have prosecuted you, about to execute you, facing the shotguns: the mere weapons responsible for ending your life.. Who would think of doing that? Only the brave.

BUT even if he did do everything in a perfect manner, he wasn't perfect. What made him not? Was his ability to feel.. His ability to love.

As I recall the article we reported on in class, it was said that above all, he loved his mother (who is all in the same, my personal hero), and he loved his country. I think that that feeling kept him human. Having a high regard for his mother, he valued education (his mother was his first teacher) and therefore, Rizal taught us not only to be knowledgeable but to carry ourselves with pride and dignity, to be compassionate and nurturing as well, to value ourselves as equal and not subservient, and to be strong women in all aspects of life.

As the retreat came to an end, the skit's message became clearer and clearer. We're not born heroes. Instead, we have a hero in each of us. In this case, no matter what the gender, we have "Rizal" in us. We are all superheroes in one way or another. Not forgetting that we can make a difference and feel at the same time.

Eena