yup, sometimes i do pray

‘Was rummaging through my old files last night when I stumbled upon this prayer that I hastily wrote for some program at the Department in March last year. It was for “He Says, She Says,” an informal discussion conducted annually by the Workers’ Welfare Research Division.

Out of desperation, Adie asked me to lead the opening prayer. She very well knew that I’m not into that prayer thing. And neither is she. So, probably to escape a possible fix by leading it herself, she delegated the opening prayer to me and gave me no room to say no. The bitch!

The program’s topic that time was the emergent concept of “housebands” or husbands who take the traditional role of homemakers, which is oftentimes unjustly appointed to women. The topic is already passé and does not merit further exposition. But, since this is an extremely macho and chauvinist society in which males think that taking on anything conventionally associated with females degrades their masculinity, this topic would make an interesting, if not controversial, point of discussion.

So I excitedly sprinted to BY Building to say my first prayer in ten years. Here’s what I said:

“In the name of…

[I deliberately paused for a while here. Juliet later said that she was already about to make the sign of the cross but stopped when she heard what I said next. Hehe. That’s exactly the effect I wanted to achieve]

…political correctness, our invocation this morning will not be centered on any particular religion.

“Let us all bow our heads and invoke whoever or whatever god we worship.

“Let us ask for the guidance of the spirits so that our program would become a success. Let us seek enlightenment rather than divisiveness; tolerance rather than bigotry; and open-mindedness rather than parochialism. May we open our eyes to the realities of our time, and consequently, discard ancient, obsolete gender roles. May we accept the evolving and increasingly inter-changing responsibilities of both genders and strive to discharge them without prejudice. Let us supplicate to our respective deities so that we may be given the strength to understand that taking the responsibilities of the opposite sex is not tantamount to self-degradation.

“May we learn to think critically on our own and not be clouded by the myopic dogma of powerful religious institutions. May we learn to accept that we need to change our perceptions first before we could aspire for true gender equality.

“And, finally, let us invoke whatever supernatural being we believe in for guidance so that we may arrive at a higher level of moral progress that would afford us to regard every person not merely as a woman or a man, but as a human being.

“That is all.”

After that, I was never asked to lead a prayer again.