My Childhood Impressions

by José Rizal

MY CHILDHOOD IMPRESSIONS

This comes from a rough draft which was written for practice.  It was published as “Mi Primer Recuerdo,” in “El Renacimiento” Manila, February 9, 1908.

I spent many, many hours of my childhood down on the shore of the Lake, Laguna de bay.  I was thinking of what was beyond. I was dreaming of what might be over on the other side of the waves. Almost every day, in our town, we saw the Guardia civil lieutenant caning and injuring some unarmed and inoffensive villager. the villager’s only fault was that while at a distance he had not taken off his hat and made his bow. The alcalde treated the poor villagers in the same way whenever he visited us.

We saw no restraint put upon brutality. Acts of violence and other excesses were committed daily.  The officers whose duty it was to protect the people and keep the public peace were the real outlaws. Against such lawbreakers, our authorities were powerless. I asked myself if, in the lands which lay across the lake, the people lived in the same way. I wondered if there they tortured any countryman with hard and cruel whips merely on suspicion. Did they there respect the home? Or over yonder also, in order to live in peace, would one have to bribe tyrants?