ONE of the best speeches of all time was delivered by American President Abraham Lincoln. It is only 295 words and yet the effect is profound. It is the most quoted speeches of all time. It admonishes the audience to remember the hero soldiers – “These dead shall not have died in vain.”
The speech is worth quoting in its entirety:
“Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate -- we cannot consecrate -- we cannot hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
Jose Rizal’s Noli Me Tangere was first published in 1887 in Berlin, Germany.
Noli Me Tangere was Rizal’s first novel. He was 26 at its publication. This book was historically significant and was instrumental in the establishing of the Filipino’s sense of national identity. The book indirectly influences a revolution although the author, Jose Rizal, actually advocated for direct representation to the Spanish government and larger role of the Philippines inside the Spaniard political affairs. The novel was written in Spanish, the language of the educated at a time when Filipinos were markedly segregated by diverse native languages and regional cultures.
The novel created so much controversy that only a few days after his arrival, Governor-General Emilio Terrero summoned him to the Malacañang Palace and told him of the charges saying that the Noli was full of subversive ideas. After a discussion, the liberal Governor General was appeased; but he mentioned that he was unable to offer resistance against the pressure of the Church to take action against the book. The persecution can be discerned from Rizal’s letter to Leitmeritz: “My book made a lot of noise; everywhere, I am asked about it. They wanted to anathematize me [‘to excommunicate me’] because of it … I am considered a German spy, an agent of Bismarck, they say I am a Protestant, a freemason, a sorcerer, a damned soul and evil. It is whispered that I want to draw plans, that I have a foreign passport and that I wander through the streets by night …”
Rizal depicted our nationality by emphasizing the qualities of Filipinos: devotion of a Filipina and her influence to a man’s life, the deep sense of gratitude, and the solid common sense of the Filipinos under the Spanish regime.
One of the inspiring quotations of the book states:
“I die without seeing the dawn’s light shining in my country. You who will see it, welcome it to me don’t forget those who fell during the night time.”
Lincoln’s said – These dead shall not have died in vain.
Rizal’s said: Forget not those who fell in the darkness of the night.
Whether you are an American or Filipino or any race – the heroes are worth remembering.