Kung sumabog sana ang bomba sa lampara

Di nakakibo ang lahat. May nagsabi. Baka lasunin tayo. Binitiwan ang mga kubyertos. Lumabo ng ilawan. Iminungkahi ng Kapitan Heneral kay Padre Irene na itaas ng huli ang mitsa ng ilawan. Biglang may mabilis na pimasok, tinabig ang utusang humadlang, kinuha ang ilawan, itinakbo sa asotea at itinapon sa ilog, May humingi ng rebolber, may magnanakaw raw. Ang anino ay tumalon sa rin sa ilog.


from the novel El Filibusterismo, Dr. Jose P. Rizal


Hindi nagalaw ang pihitan ng mitsa na siya sanang magpasabog sa lalagyan ng nitroglisirina.

Simoun had an excellent plan. He invited and gathered all the government and church officials and their cohorts to a party and then plotted to bomb the place with a nitro lamp bomb to smithereens. To be able to do that, he played the devil. He seduced the colonial powers that be with money and power. He invested all his riches towards the accomplishment of this goal. That is dedication.

It is generally accepted that Rizal saw (at least a part of) himself in the Simoun character. In his letters, he wrote to Blumentritt that maybe, violence is the only solution left. For me, the lamp bomb ain't a bad idea after all. What could've happened if it exploded? Would it be the start of a chain reaction of other explosions? Would it be the spark that would fire the revolution into a blaze? Part of me believes that if the bomb did explode in the novel, those influenced heavily by the good doctor's novels would've had more motivation to fight and do more drastic and radical things. Maybe, if that were the ending of El Fili, history would have recorded beheadings of colonials and their skulls on spikes. The same part of me that believes that also thinks that such ending contributed to the further "pussyfication" of the Filipino.

Yet another part of me feels that such ending is the appropriate one: a failure. Certain people respond to failure as a challenge to overcome. You know how it goes, from the school of thought that teaches It's not how many times you fall but how many times you get up--that sort of crap philosophy. I believe more in the get it right the first time and winning is the only option kind of bullshit. Perhaps Rizal saw the Filipino masses as that kind of people. The kind that would get so pissed off with his second book's ending and end up picking up their sharp guloks and start gutting conquistadores and prayles.

At this day and age, I just wish I could be Simoun and succeed.
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Si Isagani ang kumuha ng ilawan at nagtapon nito sa ilog. Siya ang huling kausap ni Basilio na tanging nakababatid ng layunin ng ilawang iyon. Ang hindi niya naisisip ay ang layunin ni Simoun sa pagpapasabog sa bahay ni Kapitan Tiyago. Ang tanging nasa isip niya nuon ay si Paulita. Si Isagani ang pumasok sa bahay nang makaalis na si Basilio.

Sa salita na rin niya na kung ang magnanakaw ay nakababatid lamang ng layunin ng pagsabog ng ilawang iyon o kung makapaglimi lamang ito ng bahagya . Hindi sana ginawa ng ginawa ng magnanakaw na iyon ang gayon! At sa salita niyang Pantayan man ako ng kahit ano ay di ako lalagay sa tayo ng magnanakaw! ay isang paghihiwalay niya sa katauhan ng lito at baliw sa pag-ibig na Isagani at ng Isaganing nagsisisi at nalason na ng poot at pait ng pagkabigo at paghihiganti. Sa katauhan niya ngayon, ang ibig sabihin ni Isagani, ay hindi niya gagawin ang kanyang gingawang pagkuha sa ilawang iyon.