MEDIUM RARE

He could not have been older than 13 or 14, crouching over a plot of land beneath which lay the remains of (possibly) his father. If a photographer had been present, what a shot he could’ve taken. It was Father’s Day last Sunday the 18th.  The memorial park was as busy as a typical All Saints Day. People and cars moved slowly, with dignity, no horns blaring, as if a funeral or interment were in progress. Every usable space was taken for parking. The boy did not look up from what he was doing, my imagination creating a scenario in which he was mourning his father’s recent passing, but where was his mom, for there was no one with him, or was it possible he was mourning the loss of his mother? It being Father’s Day, I preferred to think he was there for the  dad who loved him, whom he loved. If statistics are faithful to the truth, fathers die ahead of mothers, there are more widows than widowers. It would seem that women outlive men for the simple reason that the former’s lives are more balanced, for want of a better word, in that they do not repress their inner self.  Supposedly, women use their heart as much as their head, unafraid to show their emotions and express their sentimentality whenever and wherever. On the other hand, dads who were born thinking that real men don’t wear pink, cry, or feel as sensitively and often as their mothers and sisters don’t know what they are missing... Another survey shows that married men live longer than men who live (and die) alone. But according to a happily married macho, “It only seems longer.” (His wife was not around when he made that crack.) In a universe of eight billion, men outnumber women 101 to 100. Yet there must be more absent fathers than absent mothers, more deadbeat dads than useless, neglectful, uncaring moms. It’s woman’s nature to nurture. A bill has been filed in Congress to punish men who do not support their wife and children. How to catch them before they create a second family? Garnish their salaries, deprive them of their SSS or GSIS benefits, cancel their driver’s license.