By Manny Piñol
“Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself.” – Khalil Gibran.
Yesterday, my eldest daughter, Maria Krista, marked her 33rd birthday.
I could not almost believe how she has been transformed into the woman that she is today from that cuddly little girl who had a photographic memory.
“They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.”
I asked her sister, Jose Bernadette, also a medical doctor like her Ate, for old photos of Krista and what she sent me brought back memories of 30 years ago.
This was the little girl, who seeing how sad I was that I could only serve her hotdog and noodles for breakfast during the hard times, told me: “Sige lang, Papa. Bibili lang tayo ng masarap na ulam pag may pera na tayo.”
Growing up, she and her siblings never asked for anything more than what they actually needed.
In fact, they even refused jewellery and extra allowances and unlike children of other politicians, they stayed away from the limelight.
“You may give them your love
but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.”
She and siblings forgave me for my shortcomings as a father and a husband, including my absence in the very many important moments in their lives.
“You may strive to be like them,
but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.”
Today, I have to let go of this girl.
She has her own family – a loving husband who was her childhood sweetheart, Chito, and a very intelligent son, Duane, whom I adore.
Krista has decided to venture into public service and to do that she decided to join politics to vie for a seat in the Provincial Board of North Cotabato.
Honestly, I had my reservations about her joining politics because I know what kind of world it is. It is a dog-eats-dog world where there no permanent friends, only permanent interests.
It is a world where you will be under public scrutiny where the cruel members of the media will turn your private life inside out.
Krista has made a go for it and she seems to be enjoying every minute that she spends with the people. She appears strong enough as she starts getting her share of media attacks.
“You are the bows from which your children
as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon
the path of the infinite,
and He bends you with His might
that His arrows may go swift and far.”
In my last conversation with her before her 33rd birthday, I could only share with her the wisdom I earned in all of my years in politics – be true to yourself and be loyal to your calling.
I shared with her the basic question which I have always asked myself when I was in politics: “Will the action that I do benefit my people? Will it help them realise their dreams and lift them out of poverty?”
I know this girl is strong but the father in me gives me an uneasy feeling that I would have to let her go and find her place under the sun.
She is her own girl now, a grown up woman ready to face the challenges the world has to offer.
There is fear in my heart but I have to let her go.
“Let your bending in
the archer’s hand
be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies,
so He loves also the bow that is stable.”
Happy birthday my dear daughter, Maria Krista. I am sorry that my job prevents me from campaigning publicly for you.
But I will pray for you and I will plead for God’s blessings for you.
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