SORROW TEACHER SORROW

I really love teachers...yung mga tunay na teachers. Those who find teaching in their hearts to fill in their souls and not to fill in their pockets. Tito Flor Ramos Nicolas, my most adored teacher of Works of Rizal is one of those kind of teachers. He is super duper good. I really never liked Rizal as hero because I could not understand his heroism, but when Professor Nicolas became my teacher in my Rizal subject and he began to talk about Rizal and his works, it was only then that I realized that I am so blessed to be Rizal's countryman. I could not imagine any hero of this world as brilliant as he was, how beautiful a person as he was. That's may be the reason why some people regard him as God. Rizal is a very wonderful person short of becoming a saint.

Professor Nicolas required all of us to memorize and recite Mi Ultimo Adios.  One by one we would be in front of the class to recite Rizal's poem and it made us feel good having done that.  In a way, we felt during recitation that we tried to be in the shoes of Rizal for a brief moment.  But, Prof. Nicolas taught us another poem which influenced me to be alive and happy despite the so many challenges that I met in my life and this is AL DOLOR. Prof. Flor Nicolas is a friend in Facebook and I took the courage to request from him a copy of this poem, but he is so generous to give me the English translation, interpretation and analysis of the poem.  I am very to happy to share with the readers, the poem that drew my belief in life.

AL DOLOR por Emeterio Barcelon Dolor, maestro dolor, No te separes de mi. No se vive sin amor, Pero tampoco sin ti. Cuantas veces peregrino Inexperto me extravie, Y un guia siempre en ti halle Para volver al camino. Hiereme, hiereme al alma Y no te canses de herir. Quiero alcanzar, al morir, De la victoria la palma. Todo se puede sufrir Si sufrimos con amor Hasta el dolor de morir Deja de ser un dolor. An English translation of the foregoing poem reads as follow: Sorrow, teacher sorrow, Separate not thyself from me. One can’t live without love, But neither without thee. How many times a pilgrim Inexperienced I went out of the way. But in thee I always found a guide In order to return to the path. Hurt me, hurt me to my soul And don’t get tired of hurting me. I want, upon dying, to attain The palm of victory. We can suffer every thing If we suffer with love Until the sorrow of dying
Ceases to be a sorrow An Analysis (by Prof. Flor Ramos Nicolas)

 A great author, John Henry Cardinal Newman said, is one who has something to say and knows how to say it. Fr. Barcelon in his own measure may be considered a great author because he has something important or significant to say about the role of sorrow in every man’s life. Fr. Barcelon’s lyric poem consists of four stanzas, each of which contains four octosyllabic verses. Throughout his poem he makes effective use of apostrophe; that is to say, he directly addresses sorrow as his maestro or teacher, from who he learns many important lessons about life. How does he achieve variety in rhyme scheme? He makes use of the alternating rhyme in the first and fourth stanzas; that is, he makes the first and third, and the second and fourth, lines rhyme together – dolor, mi, amor, ti; sufrir, amor, morir, dolor. But in the second and third stanzas he makes the first and the last, and the second and the third, rhyme similarly – peregrino, extravie, halle, camino; alma, herir, morir, palma . In stanza one the poet asks sorrow, his teacher, not to separate himself from him because like any other man, he can live neither without love nor without sorrow. Love and sorrow are in effect two of the basic ingredients of human life.

In stanza 2 he effectively employs several metaphors. He compares himself to an inexperienced pilgrim and therefore life to a pilgrimage or a journey to a holy place, which is most commonly called heaven or God’s eternal kingdom. He also compares life to a way, a road, or a path, from which, as a pilgrim lacking in experience or maturity, he not infrequently wanders because he has lost sight of what he has set out to accomplish, i.e., to reach his aforementioned final destination. 

Indeed, man is created by God in order that he may live with Him in that glorious, all-perfect and heavenly kingdom where He reigns during the boundless ages of eternity. To be able to accomplish his aforementioned mission, he must, during his pilgrimage on earth, endeavor most earnestly to become as perfect as his Father who is in heaven is perfect or to become the person he was meant to be by his Creator. In other words, every human being has God’s image within him, his spirit or soul, which will survive the grave or live when time shall be no more; it is defined in the lecture of the third degree of Symbolic or Ancient Craft Masonry, or the Master Mason degree, as “the inspiration of that great Divinity whom we adore and bears the nearest resemblance or affinity to that Supreme Intelligence which pervades all nature, which will never, never, never die.” This divine inspiration in man is his spirit or soul, which is often referred to by philosophers as his higher self, and it consists of mind or intellect. But every man also has a body, which is composed of external and internal senses; this is often referred to by philosophers as man’s lower self. 

Man must endeavor most earnestly to achieve self-mastery by making higher self have control over his lower self. In other words, he must let his mind or intellect be the master of his passions, prejudices and selfish interests; for unless he does so, he cannot exert beneficial influence over other men. Man is, after all, a being-in-the-world-with-others. As German philosopher Henri Bergson has pointed out, “Man is in essence a “homo faber” (doing man) rather than a “homo sapiens” (thinking man); for his constant urge is to improve himself and his environment.” 

To foremost Filipino patriot and hero Jose Rizal, environment specifically refers to one’s own country. That is why, in his essay entitled “Amor Patrio” (Love of Country), he urged his countrymen, particularly fellow Filipinos in Europe: “Let us love our country, always desiring her welfare; for by doing so, we are laboring in conformity with the purpose of humanity dictated by God, which is the universal peace and harmony among His creatures.” To achieve that divine purpose, men of different countries, religious sects, and political persuasions must work together in solidarity to make the world they are living and working in conducive to the attainment by each of them of self-perfection or personal excellence. This idea is aptly expressed in the following manner by another Filipino patriot and hero, Apolinario Mabini, a philosopher in his own right, in the third precept, of “El Verdadero Decalogo” (The True Decalogue): “Cultivate the special aptitudes (or the talents) which God has granted you by working and studying to the best of your ability, without separating yourself from the path of righteousness (or uprightness) and justice, in order to attain your own perfection, by means whereof you will be able to contribute to human progress.

This is the mission God has assigned to you in this life; by fulfilling it, you will have honor, and by having this, you will glorify God.” Man, however, often fails to fulfill his God-appointed mission. Like the prodigal son in one of the parables of Jesus the Christ, he foolishly squanders his God-Given gifts or talents by permitting himself to become the pawn of his passions, prejudices, and self interests, giving himself in to ephemeral mundane pleasure and eventually forgetting his ultimate goal in life, that is eternal life with God in His Kingdom. What, then, is the role of pain or sorrow in man’s life? In stanza 3 of his poem, Father Barcelon emphasizes through repetition (“Hurt me, hurt me to the soul”) that the role of sorrow in every man’s life is to remind him to desist from living sensual or even animalistic life and to return to his father’s home or kingdom – that is, to dedicate himself once more to be concerned with eternity or pursing his earthly pilgrimage towards God’s eternal kingdom. 

Yes, pain or sorrow serves as every man’s teacher, urging him not to wander anymore from the path of righteousness (or uprightness) and justice and therefore attain, upon dying, the palm of victory. The symbol of victory in the East is the palm, while in the West it is the laurel. We should notice that “the palm of victory” is also a metaphor; here the poet hides one of the things being compared in an of-phrase. In the last stanza, the poet submits the thesis, that one can suffer all things if one suffers them out of love of himself and those dear to him, and if he does so, then the sorrow of dying ceases to be a sorrow. Clearly, this is a paradox or a seemingly contradictory statement. If one pursues his pilgrimage on earth by persistently and perseveringly treading on the righteous (or upright) and just path of righteousness, justice and other virtues, then one is prepared to welcome death, not as a grim tyrant, but a kind messenger whom God has sent to translate him from this imperfect, materialistic, and ephemeral world to that all-perfect, glorious, and celestial kingdom, where He reigns during the boundless ages of eternity.

Professor Flor Nicolas.........one true teacher.

Professor Flor Nicolas.....more than a Master