Departure Day
by Oliver Carlos
One of the subjects I teach is the Rizal course. A lesser-known dramatic event in the national hero’s life is the day he left Dapitan. Rizal stayed in that lonely far-away place for 4 years and made a big impact in the lives of the people there.
Although he wasn’t able to write any literary work in his exile in Dapitan, Rizal was able to accomplish tons of unheralded milestones.
He architected 6-sided and 8-sided houses, which were unique at that time. He built a small dam and a 2-kilometer long irrigation system for his vast plantation of fruit trees. The dam is still existing today.
Rizal landscaped the town plaza with a giant map of Mindanao. We can still see it if we would visit Dapitan. This project is the inspiration of the giant Philippine map on a pond in Luneta.
While in Dapitan, our National Hero also made a handful of nice sculptures, some of which are displayed today at the National Museum. Rizal also discovered 3 new species of animals- a frog, a winged lizard, and a beetle. These species were named after him.
In addition, he formulated a super glue from fruits of a mangrove tree, so in a way he became a chemist there. He was also a businessman as he sold his plantation harvests and stockings in the public market of Dapitan.
He was also schoolmaster of his self-established school for boys. The students were all his scholars. He didn’t charge tuition in his school. Rizal taught for free.
Rizal also developed a game which he called “Haec Est Sibylla Cumana” (Let’s Ask Sibylla Cumana), which I consider as the frontrunner of the modern-day “click here to play” games on facebook. Rizal’s game was played by his students at night before going to bed. They would gather around in a circle with the Sibylla Cumana booklet in the middle. They also had some dice to roll. The dice were many-sided wooden tops that Rizal crafted himself. A student would spin the dice-tops and the resulting number combination would lead him to a page on the Sibylla Cumana booklet.
For example: A student might inquire, what would my future wife look like? And based on the spin of the dice-top, he can get an answer like, she would be fair-skinned, curly-haired, and tall. Isn’t this similar to our modern-day social media app, wherein we press a button to see how we would like in the future, and the likes? Rizal’s students must have had great fun and entertainment in those dark nights.
On top of all these, Rizal helped out the Christian and Muslim communities there as the one and only medical doctor in the area catering to the sick. He had a clinic in Dapitan, and he also rowed his boat at times to hold clinic in the neighboring villages. In those times, he was the greatest blessing the area ever had.
So when Rizal bid the people of Dapitan goodbye in August 1896, the whole town mourned as if they were attending a funeral. They accompanied Rizal to the ship that would bring him to Cuba. He volunteered to be a military doctor to be dispatched in that Spanish colony in Central America. So great was the sorrow of the people because Rizal gave so much to them without really asking anything in return.
In the Bible, we read about a similar sight. In Acts 19–20, we read about the Apostle Paul bidding goodbye to the Ephesians. Paul was going to Jerusalem and the Ephesians knew this was their last time that they would see the man who spent with them years of selfless service. Many of them had changed lived, thanks to Paul’s ministry. So huge was Paul’s impact on their lives that they hugged him hard as they mourned in his departure.
In Acts 20:34 (NIRV), Paul’s parting words continued to reverberate not only in the Ephesian church, but also to the next several centuries, even to our time:
“In everything I did, I showed you that we must work hard and help the weak. We must remember the words of the Lord Jesus. He said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.”
Are there people who would feel the same if you would say farewell to them? Let us understand the blessedness that comes with giving and encouraging others. Stretch yourself and be a blessing to the people around you.
