Mary Anne Yu Pinlac 2009-13389

PI 100 (Wed: 4-7pm) Professor Aragon

Indolence of the Filipinos: Essay by Dr. Jose Rizal Minor Paper Number 3

Part I: 1-2 General Comments Dr. Jose Rizals essay about the indolence of the Filipinos is one literary work that Filipinos should read for it was not just about the existence of indolence, but it also talked about the different factors why this indolence actually subsists in the Filipinos. Rizal did not just conform to the claim of the Spaniards that the Filipinos were indolent. He did not just agree with them, instead, Rizal made his own claim as to why the Filipinos became indolent and provided counter-arguments to the accusations of the Spanish writers. Rizal started his essay with the perception of what indolence is. He said that the word indolence has been greatly misused and was connected to the sense of having little love for work and the lack of energy. He also indicated in his essay the common misperceptions during the Middle Ages with regard to blaming the so-called devil for things that superstitions cannot explain. He said that in the Philippines, the faults and mistakes of people are commonly attributed to the concept of indolence. In this sense, Rizal admitted that, indeed, indolence exists in the Philippines. The Filipinos who are considered to be one of the most active peoples in the world will not reject this admittance because it is true. However, as Rizal stated, we should not just consider the fact that indolence exists and suppose it to be the cause of the problem of misfortune and backwardness, but we should also regard it as the consequence of the problem. At that time, no one has ever studied the causes behind this indolence and just settled on merely denying it. Rizal, aside from stating the causes of the existence of indolence, also proposed remedies to the persisting problem. To begin his explanation about the causes of indolence, Rizal compared the climate of the Philippines to the climate of the European countries. Rizal said that a hot climate requires quiet and rest while a cold climate stimulates labor and action. He said that the climate of the Philippines could be one of the causes for the subsistence of indolence. He explained this claim further by providing

examples like how the Spaniards lived in a tropical country like the Philippines. Spaniards who are used to the cold climate lived in the Philippines. This then led to the fact that Spaniards who lived in the Philippines could be seen being surrounded by their servants which are the Filipinos and having these servants serve them as if they do not have their own hands and feet. They lived and ate better and worked to get rich while the indolent Filipinos were badly nourished and even worked under force. Regardless of the claim about climate, Rizal argued that it should not be blamed for this bad act of the Spaniards. He said that a man can live with any climate if he will only acclimatize himself to the requirements and the conditions. What killed these Spaniards in hot countries is not the climate itself but their abuse of liquors and the attempt to live like they used to live in their own countries while being in another country. For Rizal, the evil is not the existence of indolence but the fact that it is being promoted and magnified. Indolence in the Philippines therefore is an effect of the misgovernment and backwardness and not a cause. Rizals claim was not an empty one since he provided proofs to his argument. Rizal said that indolence in the Philippines is a chronic disease and not a hereditary one. He said that the Filipinos have not always been indolent, the history of the Philippines is not a history wherein indolence persisted. Filipinos in the ancient time were active and hardworking. Different industries before the Spaniards came to conquer the Philippines will prove that the Filipinos were not naturally indolent. Mining, farming, barter, naval construction, raising of poultry and stock, weaving of silk and cotton, manufacturing of arms and other more were existing in the ancient times. This proves that even before the Spaniards came, there was life, there were activities and there were movements. Hence, Filipinos were not naturally indolent they only became indolent when the Spanish conquerors came to claim what was rightfully theirs.

Part II: Pick 1 Part and React

The part that struck me the most in this essay is the part wherein Rizal stated the different factors that sustained the indolence that had grown in the Filipino people. It is indeed true that different factors caused the Filipinos to continue being indolent. Despite the fact that the Filipinos were born active and

hard working, the different circumstances that Filipinos have experienced still sustained their lack of motivation to move. The arrival of the Spaniards made the Filipinos lose their determination to work. The active and hard working traits of the Filipinos disappeared because of a number of circumstances. The circumstances are the following: the wars or the internal disorders, the frightful invasions, the rough attacks and the subjugation of the Philippines by different invaders. These circumstances led to the discouragement of the Filipinos to move and work since their future was deemed to be very dark and their hard work will not seem to bear fruits. People work because they want to achieve something, because they have goals. Take away the goals of the people and they will not be motivated to work and will resort to inaction. Even the most active man in the world will stop moving once he realizes that he has nothing to work for and that his work will be the cause of his own problem. The Filipinos are just the same, as Rizal claimed, when the Filipinos were subjugated, they lost the motivation to continue moving and be active. Although the Filipinos tried to struggle against indolence, the mere reality that they have too many enemies made them finally succumb to it. What then, sustains the indolence that developed in the Filipinos? Indolence persisted among the Filipinos because they were continuously controlled by their invaders. Aside from this, the introduction of gambling and the different religious ceremonies which caused the Filipinos to just leave their fates to prayers and religious functions contributed to the continued existence of indolence. The Filipinos got so used to waiting for luck and blessings that they finally stopped working and just stayed at home and hoped for good fortunes. Moreover, the apathy of the government itself fostered this indolence. Instead of encouraging its people to work, the government did not mind if its people did nothing but stay at home and be inactive citizens. The lack of moral stimulus also sustained the indolence that exists in the Filipinos. Even if a person works hard, if the people that surround him do not care whether he contributes something and do not recognize his contributions, then a person will lose the motivation to continue working. These factors sustain the indolence that had developed in the Filipinos.

Part III: Make Your Own Essay On the Indolence of the Filipinos Today

The Filipinos are indolent, no matter how much we try to deny it, we cannot escape the fact that most of us have become indolent. We are not indolent in the sense that we do nothing but sleep all day and not work because we just feel like doing so. Some of us still work, some of us still continue to move and try to get away from the deep sea of indolence that continues to drown us. However, most of us have finally lost the determination to get away from the sea and just let ourselves drown in indolence. The indolence of the Filipinos does not exist because of no apparent reason. The indolence of the Filipinos is an effect of various circumstances. History would prove that the Filipinos were not born indolent. The Filipinos were born active and hard working. Instead of just doing nothing, the ancient Filipinos engaged themselves in different kinds of activities and developed different kinds of industries. The Filipinos moved. The Filipinos worked. The Filipinos did not just stay at one place during the ancient times. The Filipinos were very active. That is what our history would tell us. However, our history would also tell us how indolence started to develop in the Filipinos. The Filipinos should not be blamed for the development of this indolence. No man wants to become indolent, however, even if one struggles against indolence, if the forces are so powerful and influential, one cannot do anything but to just succumb to the indolence. This is what happened to the Filipinos. The Filipinos were living productively, working everyday and engaging in different activitiesthen came the conquerors, the Spaniards. The Spaniards claimed our land, they made use of our resources and made the Filipinos their servants. After that, they labeled us as indolent. After abusing our resources, killing our people and making our people their slavesthey called us indolent. While they were seating prettily in their offices, being served by the poor Filipinos, they said that the Filipinos were indolent. Who was indolent then? The master who sat on his chair, being fed by his servant or the servant who served his master despite his unwillingness to do so? Who was the indolent one? In the eyes of the Spaniards, the servant was the indolent one, for the Spaniard was the master.

The Spaniards made the Filipinos develop indolence which still persists up to this day. Because of the lack of motivation to work, some of us just chose to remain indolent. The fact that we got conquered

for so many times already made us lose the motivation and the determination to continue working hard to finally get through the hard circumstances. We struggled. No one can dare say we did not. We struggled against this indolence, we fought for our lands, our culture, and our industries. The ancient Filipinos struggled to get back to the old times when they were still active and moving. However, our enemies were bigger than our efforts. Our enemies were more powerful than our determination. Despite the intense will to fight against this indolence and remain active, the Filipinos lost the fight. Many can argue and say that it was all a part of the past and that if we could, we can just let go of it and become active in work again. However, despite the notion that past is past, we still cannot deny the fact that the past accounts to the present and the future. Because our past took away our will to work, our present became like this. Nowadays, some Filipinos do not have the motivation to work hard and get to the top because they know that no matter how much they work, the elite or the ruling class will still remain on top. No matter how much a poor man works and persists, the powerful and rich man will still get the top position. This is the kind of society we live in. Our society is a cruel one, a society that blames the poor for being indolent but does not consider the fact that it could be the reason the poor have become indolent.