Open Letter To Papa

Dear Pa,

Though you are a man of few words (as in really few words), the few words that actually get stuck in family lore are quite significant  (I may be quoting some below quite liberally):

"The best way to love your children is to love their mother"

(when confronted with Lolo Lino's rejection) "Makakuha lang lagi ko ug diploma..."

(talking to Lolo Nonoy)"Pa, ikaw ang modelo, ang modelo nga dili nako pamarisan"

Indeed, there are many others, stuck perhaps inside the repositories of my siblings' minds. My personal favorite is the last one because it not only speaks about your life as a whole but also speaks of mine, inasmuch as I try to emulate you.

You had always maintained that Lolo Nonoy was the biggest reason why you are what you are. It helped of course that you had good peers to begin with but it was Lolo Nonoy, God bless his soul, who fueled your desire to become a better husband, a better father, a better man. That was because you chose to regard him as the model that should not be followed.

As for me Pa, I'm choosing to also have you as my model, the one that I should not follow. That's because if you are a good provider, then I want to be a better provider than you. If you are a good husband and father, then I want to be better than you someday. If you are a good man, then I want to be the best. If you have chosen Lolo as the model that you should not follow, then I am choosing you to be the model that I must exceed.

It is accepted belief that each generation owes much of its progress to the generations that have gone before them. "Bernard of Chartres used to say that we are like dwarfs on the shoulders of giants, so that we can see more than they, and things at a greater distance, not by virtue of any sharpness of sight on our part, or any physical distinction, but because we are carried high and raised up by their giant size."

And it is so for both of us, Pa. For the most part of my life, you were the giant. You were my first superhero and, though you were not perfect, you were always my standard of what it means to be a man. And for everything that I am now, it is because I stood on your shoulders.  Now it is my turn and I would be owing you a great disservice if I choose to act small. You became bigger than Lolo Nonoy could ever be. Now, I'll try to do the same thing by becoming bigger than you.

I love you Pa.

Your son,

Paolo