Castillo, Marianne G. BSTRM 3-1N Prof. Jun Valila “Does Rizal deserve to be our national hero?” Reflection Paper Almost all of the known heroes of this age are the product of becoming a leader or even simply being a part of a national revolution where people are most united, involved, and decisively active in the fight for independence, with the exception of Rizal, who was neither a leader nor a part of a revolution. After a few discussions and reading comprehension about the life and works of Rizal, and particularly after learning that Rizal was in strong opposition with the idea of revolutionaries’ uprisings towards liberty from the course’ last week discussion, I have been wondering since then if Rizal indeed deserves to be regarded as our national hero. Reading the article “Veneration without understanding” by Renato Constantino, I believe that he is undoubtedly a hero. However, I think someone like Andres Bonifacio, Macario Sakay, and other Filipinos who actively participated in the revolution against the Spaniards and Americans deserves the title “National Hero” more than him. As Constantino suggests in his book, I believe evaluating Rizal’s heroism during his time is very crucial in concluding whether it is reasonable to regard him as highly as we do until this day.