"The Winning Piece"

Stories make others travel in a place where they have never been before. Most of the time, those places are just made by the mind. Imagination of an individual makes the story alive. That's why many people love reading. But in my case, I love writing.

I remember a story of a father and his son which I have read a year ago. Their story was a good one I can say. Are you interested to know what the whole story is? Continue reading.

In a village, there was a house near a big tree where a family settles. But the house is not that happy at all. It has a father who works hard for his son; and a son who always make his father disappointed all the time.

One day, a wake up call woke up the father. He was ordered to go to barracks within an hour because they will be leaving for a mission to search and rescue the Italian priest that has been kidnapped by the Abbu Sayyaf Group. As a soldier, duty first before anything else. But he love his son so much that he can not leave his son without saying "goodbye".

It was 3 o'clock in the morning, he went to his son's room to say goodbye. But he was ignored by his son because of the argument they had last night about his grades in school. Before he leave, he cooked food for him and get money in his wallet and put it on his son's pillow and made a note saying, " son, I prepared food for you, here is your money. Spend it wisely. I'll be leaving for a mission today in Mindanao and I don't know when will I come back. Take care of your self. " Then he leaved his house disappointed. He had never got a chance to talk to his son nicely.

An hour after, the father was in the barracks. He was immediately given a mission to lead a troop to search and rescue the Italian priest. They have to depart from the headquarters to Mindanao as soon as possible.

6 o'clock in the morning, the son woke up. He did not notice the note written by his father. He just went to the kitchen and look for food. He found the food made by his father. Then ate it.

After eating, he went back to his room to dress up because he had a plan to go out and have fun with his friend. Then he made a look to his bed and found out that their is money at top of his pillow covered with a piece of paper.

Because of the excitement, he did not read the note, he just get the money, dressed up, and leave the house. He spent his all day hanging out with his friend. He also spent all of his money in that whole day.

6 o'clock in the evening, a breaking news was broadcast. 13 members of the Marine Corps was captured and beheaded by the Abbu Sayyaf. He saw how other Marines who survived the encounter threw the dead bodies of their comrades onto the truck. At first he felt nothing. Until the wind blew his father's note near to him. He picked it up and read it.

Tears fell on his eyes. His knees started to shake. He felt cold. He lost his appetite. He started to worry on his father's condition. Then asked himself, " What if his one of those beheaded? What if last night was the last time I will see him alive? How can I say to him that I love him if he's dead? Is it too late for us? What am I going to do?" He sat at the corner and cried. He shouted, and shouted, and shouted all night. He felt guilt deep inside him.

He got tired crying. He laid on his couch and think very deep if what will happen to him without his father. " I'm sorry dad, I wish you were here, I realized how important you are, but its too late." Then he closed his eyes. He fall asleep without knowing it.

Early in the morning, someone knocked the door very loudly. The son had woke up because of the noise made by knocking. He opened the door, and tears fell again on his eyes. His father was standing in front of him smiling, and said, "I'm home son, I'm home". The he made a big hug to his father and ask for forgiveness. The father cried, he'd never expect that his son will hug him like that because that was the very first time his son did it to him. The son continued asking for forgiveness; and his father said, "you're my son, you were already forgiven before I leave our home, that is because I love you."

From then, the bad habits of the son was gone. He served his father like a king. He showed his love and great appreciation to his father. And they lived with no boundaries to each other.

See how powerful the cycle of life is. Its very uncertain, many people say. Its a gift from God. A gift that should be kept and put extra care on it. Its very precious because we are only given one chance to walk on this beautiful world. Every moment of our life should be considered as a treasure, a treasure that no one can steal from us. Let us be thankful for what we are and what we have.


"History of the Story"

December 8, 2007, I was chosen by our school to participate in a competition on campus journalism. Since I was the Editor-in-chief of our school paper, I have the authority to choose what category I would be dealing with.I chose feature writing. The topic was, "make a story about a situation in your life this year that changed yourself into a better individual"

Like what I have said earlier, "I remember a story of a father and his son which I have read a year ago", yes its true, I have read a story about a father and a son, because on that date, that story that I am telling to you was born. And I am the one who wrote it. And I'm proud to say that this story won the first place in my category and I was sent to Occidental Mindoro to compete for other Regions in the Philippines.

Originaly it was written in Filipino. I translated it to English for this blog.

The story was a combination of real emotions that I felt during the time that I'm writing it, real situations in life, it means that the whole thing in the story was based on true to life situation in which a friend of mine was involved, he is the son that I am refering to.

I hope you like it.