Historical Field Trip

On the anniversary of Ninoy Aquino's death and the Plaza Miranda Bombing, we went on a historical field trip to enrich Noelle's Civics class. After breakfast, we packed lunch and dinner and headed for the City of Manila to visit the historical landmarks there. Since this is our first historical field trip, we would focus on places relevant to the story of our national hero, Dr. Jose Rizal.

First, of course, on the itinerary was the Rizal Monument in Luneta which marks the place where Rizal was martyred. Aside from the monument itself, the girls enjoyed the carabao statue and the horse-driven carriages also featured there.

But the highlight of the day was our last stop at Fort Santiago in the walled city of Intramuros where Rizal was detained and spent his final days. We tried to imagine the conditions under which he lived there as we surveyed the grounds, traced his last footsteps and studied the relics he left behind.


As with Cory Aquino's story, Noelle was disturbed at the cruelty of the oppressors (in this case the Spanish colonizers of Rizal's time). She could not understand how people could treat others so badly. We did our best to explain how the colonizers wanted to suppress calls for Philippine independence because they had so much to lose.

It's still too complicated for her to really grasp. Actually, if our kids never learn how to justify such behavior, we would be very happy. Our effort at modeling to them only loving behavior (as often as possible) and limiting their exposure to television and other popular media would have been worth it. (Most so-called "kid-friendly" material actually undermine the value for life and limb and desensitize kids to violence -- despite the "moral lessons" usually added to them as an afterthought.)

At day's end we pondered Rizal's willful and deliberate sacrifice for his beloved country and how he inspired many others to do the same. Our prayer was that we would be so inspired ourselves, feel more intensely our rootedness in our homeland, the Philippines, and give our best to her and to our fellow Filipinos.