Freedom is the only thing we must demand in life, for all other good things stem from it

History is changed by martyrs who tell the truth.

Clichés remind and reassure us that we're not alone, that others have trod this ground long ago.

Being remembered is all anyone can ask from a lost love.

We referenced fictional characters as if they were people to learn from. As if real-life people were too nebulous, too private and unreal for us to understand.

I'm home and safe and filled with the comfort of being somewhere I've already been. The ruckus of homecoming is brutally enjoyable and everyone makes me feel like a champion. And all I had to do was stay away long enough.

Fiction is a very powerful tool for teaching history. The Philippines was the first Iraq, the first Vietnam, the first Afghanistan, in the sense that it was the United States initial or baptismal experience in nation-building.