Parents can do anything as long as its for the sake of their children. As long as it guarantees the safety, wellbeing, and future of their children, they will do it even if it means getting in the way of their beloved son or daughter. But I think I am an exception to that. It's not because I let my children be themselves. I am an exception because instead of me, my son did everything for my sake. If it wasn't for him, I'm still a still a useless father who thinks he is entitled to be served by his wife and children with all they have. No, I don't think that I will still be alive if my son didn't get in my way.
Ten years ago, I was an architect. I have a happy life, a stable job, and my family lives happily. I was contented on what I have back then. I have a job that can provide for our needs and also secure the future of my three children. For a father like me, I can't ask for more. If I will be asking to God for something, that would be the allowing my family to live in this kind of life for their whole lives. But it seems that my request was not granted, instead, my biggest fear occurred to me.
After five years of working as an architect, something really bad happened. The building that I designed had some defects, defects that can cause the building to collapse. As the architect of that project, all of the blame was placed on me. I was fired, but I can't understand why. I did my job diligently, I made sure that it would not have any defects that can cause any serious problems. Maybe the defects came from the other processes done while building the infrastructure? Maybe the engineer or the workers did something different from the plan? I tried to use this appeal, but it was not accepted. On that day, the kind of life that I used to share with my family was taken away from me.
My happy and contented life gradually turned into a miserable one as more days of me not being able to find a new job pass by. I got used to the laid back life to the point that I never want to get out of it. My wife chose to work as a factory worker to sustain our daily needs while I continue getting worse. I started drinking and smoking. My first born child, which is also my only son saw my drastic change. Whenever I am going to drink or smoke, my son would stop me. If he sees me smoking or drinking, he would reprimand me. Honestly, I'm irritated at my son. He always go in my way whenever I try to smoke or drink. Sometimes, I end up scolding or even hitting him. I think I know why he always does that, he sees me as a hopeless man and he don't want me to become further than that. Anyway, he's still a kid. He still doesn't know that those things help me relieve my pain. He doesn't know the pain I suffer from. He still don't know the sufferings of a man.
My laid back life continued for two years. So many things in our life have changed: the house that we used to own was sold to pay our debts, our children stopped going to school, my wife worked more just to sustain our daily needs. The only two things that did not change was me being useless father and my son's acts to get in my way. Instead of giving up, my son did not stop pestering me just to make me stop doing vices. I got full of him, I beat him badly that he got seriously injured. My wife, who was working, did not know this. My other two children, cried and promised to shut their mouth after threatening them that I'll also beat them if they will tell to their mother about what happened to her son. After that, my son stopped pestering me. I guess he gave up? Well, it's good for me. Now I don't need to bothered by every time I drink or smoke! That's what I thought, but my son didn't gave up. He secretly followed me everywhere I go, but he did not try to stop me whenever I drink or smoke. I guess I don't need to beat him again for that act. As long as he does not become a pain for me, he can do whatever he wants.
After two years of doing nothing but drinking and smoking, I got bored of it. I discovered gambling and realized that by winning, I can make large amount of money to get my family out of poverty. I tried playing with just a few dollars of money. Beginner's luck helped me win, but it also got me overwhelmed. I played more and more until I did not care anymore about winning or losing. I played because I enjoy gambling. But as a consequence, I lose all of the money that I won as I lose more games. By the time I noticed it, I don't have enough money to play and win my earned money back. I borrowed my wife's savings to play again, but I lost again. I borrowed larger money from people who dragged me into gambling because I thought that was all I needed to win. I lost more and borrowed larger money. It was too late for me to realize that the amount of money that I have to win back is getting larger and larger and I am getting farther and farther from my goal.
My life got worse. Before, I was just a useless man who enjoys his laid back life. Now, I'm a useless man who creates more trouble for myself and for my family. The group of people who encouraged me into gambling, the ones who allowed me to borrow a large amount of money, was a syndicate. They want their money back, but they know that I am completely broke. Instead, they want my life as a compensation for what I have borrowed from them. They can just sell my body to people who badly need my functional organs as a replacement for their own defective ones. I know my existence is useless, but I still value my life. I ran away from home to make sure that my perpetrators cannot find me. I thought I was safe, but the syndicate was secretly tailing me. By the time I noticed it, I was already cornered.
I guess this the end for me. I am a father who used to have a good life. A father who had just fallen once, but he refused to get back up and chose to lay down instead. He had his son who did not stop getting in his way just to guide him back to the right path, but he ignored that and chose to get lost in the wrong path. He had his family who can help him get back what was taken from him, but he used that help to get away from his problems. He had every certainty, but he exchanged that to have the opportunity of getting nothing. I caused too much trouble for my family; I wish I've realized it sooner, so that I have time to change myself. But in this situation, I don't have enough time to even say goodbye to my family.
My killers were just 3 meters away from me. They all have their guns, but their leader ordered them to just allow one of them to shoot me. After all, they just need a lethal shot to kill me and preserve my valuable organs. My killer raised his run, pointed it to me, and placed his index finger on the trigger. I closed my eyes and I heard the gunfire that will end my life. After a split second, I heard a body falling on the ground. I guess it was me, I never thought that gunshots can kill people painlessly.
For the last moment, I opened my eyes to find in which part of my body I was shot. But to my surprise, I didn't have have any wounds or punctures in my body. I thought it was a miracle, but it was not. It was my son, who jumped in front of me to take the bullet that was was directed to me. I was so confused, because there are police who are arresting the group of people who are about to kill me. I rushed to my son who is laying on ground. He can't move, but he was conscious. He can't speak, but I know what he wants to say from his utters. "This is the last time I will get in your way, so please don't ignore it. I won't be bothering you anymore, but please get yourself back up, for mother's sake, for your children, and for yourself." Those were his last words. I have to many things to say, but I cannot reply to what he said anymore. After all, he will not hear it. My son, who used to get in my way, died in my own hands after getting my way to the afterlife. He played his first and last gamble; he exchanged his life for a chance that I will stand up and get back to the right path that I used to walk on.
I chose to use the what my son has gambled for me. Unlike before, I faced my own problems and avoided drinking to forget them. I started walking on the right path where my son has been guiding me to go to. The first steps were hard, but every time you complete a step, each step become fulfilling. I said to myself, "I should have done this before, so my family did not have to suffer like that." Little by little, I stopped drinking and smoking. Because of what happened in my previous work, I don't think I can work as an architect again. I decided to apply as Mathematics teacher on the high school where I graduated. Fortunately, I was hired. Now, I am a teacher that teaches my students about math and life, and about how both of those can be hard to them. But no matter how hard are those, I teach my students to never run away from them. After all, I don't want my students to follow my mistakes.
Parents can do anything as long as its for the sake of their children. As long as it guarantees the safety, wellbeing, and future of their children, they will do it even if it means getting in the way of their beloved son or daughter. I am exception to that. After all, this story is not about a father who worked hard to give everything for his family. This story is about me. This is the story of a father who lost and thrown everything he had to gain the opportunity of getting nothing, but was given a chance to retrieve all of that by his son who used get in his way.