SILENT HERO

I love my father. I really love him so much.

My father is just a typical subsistence farmer. He is not a teacher by profession, but he is a book himself. He has taught me to appreciate life wherever my feet would take me away. My father simply reminds me of redemption and vindication.

Way back in elementary years, I could still vividly reminisce how my father used to wake me up every day to pray with him. I really lap up his persistence in reciting the holy rosary. I have not known somebody else who is so persistent in praying other than him.

Here came the character-defining moment of my well-being. My father didn’t bother to attend my elementary graduation. Despite such milestone, he just spent this precious time of mine plowing in the farm. I was clueless his reason of not showing up such momentous affair. I was then an honor graduate that any parents would have to be proud of. During the ceremony, it really hurt when all of the graduates hugged and thanked to their parents along with music of gratitude. I held back my tears, but I cried inside.

My father was not fond of attending PTA meetings and parent-teachers conferences. It took me a long time to appreciate his presence in my high school graduation. I was quite flattered when he donned me my medals off the stage. In time, I seemed to appreciate him by such gesture.

Since my father could not able to send me to college, I decided to work in a department store for my plan of pursuing college. With God’s guidance, I was able to enroll in Education the following year. Being away from my father and other siblings was never that easy. I was fighting homesickness. But, I overcome it through time. Through the help of my other siblings, I earned Education degree with flying colors. It took me  some times celebrating the state of my euphoria. Finally, my father’s presence and moral support during my college graduation was his best present I have had ever received. My father’s gesture of donning to me my medals was really such a significant turning point of my well-being.

My father doesn’t have the luxuries in the world, but he has provided me with everything through his persistent prayers which, as it turned out, have worked in mysterious ways. This pushes me to achieve something I want in life. He is my great white hope, my ultimate role model. For in the end, the ultimate reason why I pursued college is to show appreciation on how he has brought us up. This is my gesture of giving it back.

What all we’ve been through pays off. Since my mother’s demise when I was still in second grade, my father has become an epitome to keep moving forward. My father remains more than a priest, a monk, a doctor, a  counselor, a mentor, a book, and so on.

That is, I love my father. After all, he is my life’s silent hero. For if it wasn’t for him, I would never be who I am today.