Pilosopo Tasyo

The character in Noli Me Tangere named Mang Pilosopo Tasyo was the old Don Anastacio of his home town. He is the man who used to wander around the streets and who doesn't know where to go and doesn't care where to live or stay. He was tagged as stupid and weird old man in their place. As a matter of fact, a lot of people have been calling him as crazy. A man with a touched of benign lunacy. In the novel, he has brought various of significance. In fact, he serves as the man who has the knowledge which is capable of changing the worst into better. He looks like the rejected key for a success. A metaphor of how should a man think in that very moment of colonization. He symbolizes desprate culture: the East and the West which can be seen and felt how he viewed the people and their situations.
In my part, I am stun by his characteristic, by his principles in life, and through his perspectives towards the things that were happening around him. He has this thoughts that others don't have. The power of solving schemes that have been planted by the enemies. If I'll reflect and interpret his being. Tasyo's character attempts to show us that reciprocal inhibition resorting to other activities to forget unpleasant experiences is the common refuge of a person like him. Repressing his personal problems through learning was the way to preserve the appearance of sanity and blend in with the "normal" world. The irony is, the more learned he was, the farther he moved away from what is perceived to be sane. It somehow shows the idealism beyond of his idleness, that through such insights and critical ideas, he became deviant to the eyes of the public and considered him as mentally-illed. That his attitude in seeking solace through learning had change him and made him the way others don't want to perceived. However, he is an inspiration for me in the manner that we must balance our priorities and think critically but not in a weird way like Tasyo does.
If we have Pilosopo Tasyo in this present time, that would be Sen. Meriam Defensor Santiago -Tasyo's woman counterpart. She is a great legislator, she had passed laws that provided fairness and benefits to us Filipinos. She had manifested capabilities in unleashing fresh ideas and giving end that justifies the means that are really new to us. Though sometimes, like Tasyo, she's tagged as weird professor of UP and kind a crazy woman because of her guts and knowledge. A lot of her opponents in politics have been laughing at her, similarly to the San Diego's people who make fun of Anastacio's odd ideas, such as his theories on the doctrine of Purgatory and that there is method to his madness. Indeed, they have a lot of resemblances in terms of their perspectives and principles in life -that a Tasyo in the novel has its benefit towards our community.