Silhouette of a Hero

Today is the first day of the month of October. This means that City daily photos around the world follows a given theme of the month. This month is "Silhouette" (Which I proposed btw, yay!) I already had a photo in mind for today but just like what happened last time I chose another photo. I thought of a distinctive shape that would be easily recognizable even if its only a silhouette. My first thought was St. Joseph Cathedral. The sky wasn't particularly dramatic that day so I changed my mind. After thinking about it some more and asking for someone else's opinion I decided to go with Jose Rizal's monument at the newly named Guingona Park here in Butuan.

Jose Rizal's monument is one of the most common monument in the Philippines. The reason is Jose Rizal is the Philippines national hero. If you're not familiar with the history of the Philippines and your only encounter with Filipinos are the nurses or friends that you have then this is the guy you should study first (that is if you're interested).

He was a multilinguist, poet, writer, medical doctor (opthalmologist), land surveyor, martial artist, among others. My friend said that there was a show on tv alleging that he was a spy too. I like him so much that in one of the virtual games I play called Smallworlds I made a mission about him entitled Jose Rizal as a Poet (shameless plug). So if you play that game be sure to come and play my mission :)

If you've heard of the saying that the pen is mightier than the sword, Jose Rizal's first book Noli Me Tangere (Touch me not) is the trigger that started the Philippine revolution against Spain. It was first published in 1887.

Check out the other interpretations of Silhouette from around the world at facebook and blogspot.