Remembering Father

Today, we celebrate Father's Day. Throughout the world, millions go to the malls to buy something for their fathers. I am an exception. I lost my father years ago.

And I don't fret about it.

Since I was born, I just saw my father a few times. When I entered the university, I'm supposed to see him on a more regular basis. I did not. He was so busy that even at the point when I nearly died due to a serious illness at the dormitory, I saw none of his shadow.

When he left, tears rolled down my eyes. My relatives from my father's side told me that he was looking for me. He wanted me at his bedside. But, I was not there. He died without seeing his son.

Something in me died when I saw him lying at his coffin. Years of pent-up emotions suddenly burst in that one night with him, his final night in this cold earth.

When he was lowered to the ground, tears rolled down from my eyes. He still lives in me, though memories blur.

Now, I am also a father.

I told myself, I'll never be my father. He lived his life for himself. He enriched himself and lived for pleasures.

The Fates, however, gave me a different direction. The muses of Zeus played with my life.

I have committed myself to father revolutions.

Late in my 30's I had an epiphany. I realized that men live once and their lives should be dedicated in the service of the poor, the orphans and the widows in their affliction. This life that God loaned to us should be for those who never saw their fathers, who never met their mothers and who never got the chance to have justice in their lives.

As fathers, we have a responsibility. And that responsibility is to make this world a better place for our kids.

Fathers everywhere, especially here in this country, should realize that their duty includes standing up for what's right. That they must act to save their kids and their future progeny against injustice, against repression and against oppression.

It is not enough that they provide comfort to their families. It is not enough that they work their asses off just to make ends meet or to see their kids attending private schools, while millions suffer under the weight of poverty and neglect.

No.

Filipino fathers should do what is right--nurture an action, a revolution now that would ensure a stable and more equitable future for everyone.

Happy Father's Day.