My father

My father has passed away. He is a good man. He gives money to temples and churches, but rarely attends them. He believes what they do is good for society, but he simply does not have the faith. He witnessed a lot of deaths. He said those Christians, when they die, they are at peace, as if they are returning to God, and that influenced his decision to send us to a Catholic school.

My father sees people as people. Gays are people. Gangs are people. He makes friends with all of them. I asked him several times - 'Are Communists bad, is that why we are fighting them?'. My father never reply to that question. I asked him if he has ever killed anyone? He said he came close ... but he never did. They come face to face, but both of them decided to walk on without killing the other. In the craziness of war, you can see pockets of sanity here and there.

My father's decision to join the military is probably because there is money in the military. He was able to go to France and the United States for his studies. He is compassionate, and the weapons are more for display than to use.

My father is very analytical. People are drawn to him to hear his analysis. How I wish my father is alive today to see how he would analyze the Iraq situation.