Signing on

I have made it a habit to tune in to one radio station as I drove from home to the university every weekday morning. As I regularly left for the office before 6:00 A.M., I discovered that if I started early enough, I would catch the station signing on. The sequence for this begins even before the 5:45 A.M. formality as the station warms up with easy listening music that I think is quite appropriate for one starting out the day. At 5:45 A.M. the station plays the Philippine national anthem, and followed by the mandatory identification of licensed personnel (ECEs and radio operators) and the broadcasting power and location of the station. It is a fitting introduction that I imagine myself to be somewhat like the station when I do my own "signing on" ceremony.

When I sign on in the mornings, I make it a point to start with a prayer - a panata of sorts since my days in Yokohama. The Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi is a most suitable prayer to start the day and I do recommend it to anyone who would want to start the day with a simple yet powerful reflection on what one needs rather than wants to accomplish. I believe the prayer is a very personal guide on how I should live my life everyday if I were to follow God's will. I just hope I could carry on and live the essence of the prayer despite all the temptations to do otherwise. For when I sign off for the day, I am also reminded of a song taught to us in grade school where we ask ourselves in the "evening of our lives" if we were brave, and strong, and true, and if we were able to fill the world with love during our lifetime.