<h3>
To my countrywomen, the girls of Malolos:
</h3>
<div class="image-550">
<img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.kahimyang.com/resources/20-women-malolos-t.webp" alt="The 20 women of Malolos handing their memorial" />
<div>
(An artist imaginative depiction of the 20 women handing the petition to Weyler)
</div>
</div>
<p>
When I wrote Noll Me Tangere, I asked myself the question whether bravery was a common thing in the girls of our people. I
brought back to my recollection and reviewed those I had known since my infancy, but there were only few who seemed to come up to my
ideal. There was, it is true, an abundance of girls with agreeable manners, beautiful ways, and modest demeanor, but there was in all an
admixture of servitude and deference to the words or whims of their so-called "spiritual fathers", due to excessive kindness, modesty, or, perhaps, 

ignorance. They seemed faded plants, sown and reared in darkness,
having flowers without perfume and fruits without sap.
</p>

<p>
However, when the news of what happened at Malolos reached us, I saw my error, and great was my rejoicing. After all, who is to blame
me? I did not know Malolos nor its girls, except one called Emilia, and her I knew by name only.
</p>
<p>
Now that you have responded to our first appeal in the interest of the welfare of the people; now that you have set an example to
those who, like you, long to have their eyes opened and be delivered from servitude, new hopes are awakened in us and we now even dare to face 

adversity, because we have you for our allies and are confident of victory. No longer does the Filipino stand with her head bowed nor does she spend 

her time on her knees, because now she is quickened by hope in the future; no longer will the mother contribute to keeping her daughter in darkness 

and bring her up in contempt and moral annihilation. And no longer will the science of all sciences consist in blind submission to any unjust order,
or in extreme complacency, nor will a courteous smile be deemed the only weapon against insult or humble tears the ineffable panacea
for all tribulations. You know that the will of God is different from that of the priest; that religiousness does not consist of long periods
spent on your knees, nor in endless prayers, big rosaries, and grimy scapularies, but in a spotless conduct, firm intention and upright judgment. 

You also know that prudence does not consist in blindly obeying any whim of the <i>diosdiosan</i>, but in obeying only that which is
reasonable and just, because blind obedience is itself the cause and origin of those whims, and those guilty of it are really to be blamed.
The official or the friar can no longer assert that they alone are responsible for their unjust orders, because God gave each of you reason
and a will of your own to distinguish the just from the unjust; you were all born without shackles and free, and nobody has a right to
subjugate the will and the spirit of another. And, why should you submit to another our thoughts, seeing that thought is noble and free?
</p>


Jose Rizal's letter to the 20 young women of Malolos - Translation from Tagalog