On November 30, we are to celebrate the life of Andres Bonifacio, the leader of the first ever revolution in Asia against European colonists. He may not have been a master tactician in war, but he was a Filipino nonetheless.

I imagine, in my own time, there will be another Andres Bonifacio, whose fight it is will be to save his people not from a foreign oppressors, but from themselves. I have this hope.

I imagine, also, that he (or she) would be a person fortuitous enough to know of a Divinity, and that he will be guided by this spiritual force. Again, I imagine would speak these words

Grant me the strength and the courage to love my people.

Grant me the leadership to show my people that dignity comes from selflessness and that the greatest honor is one that is bestowed by one's own.

And grant me the wisdom to understand that the fate of my country rests in my hands.

And since you've read this far: do you think we all have a little bit of Bonifacio in us? Can we, of all the things we ask for in our prayers, ask not for healing but for heroism? Not for patience but for patriotism?