The initial “tamer” part of the rollercoaster happened when I went to my daughter’s school's children's party in line with the celebration of Children’s Month.
The party was fine. Despite my daughter throwing a tantrum early in the morning because of a "minor misunderstanding" with her mother regarding her hairstyle, she immediately lightened up as soon as we got to the school and she saw her friends.
They presented a Hawaiian dance and I think it was cute with all their costumes and inability to keep up with the beat. You can see they were having fun though. Some classes presented a variety of other dances and songs. It was fun and I enjoyed it.
When food was served during lunch, I heard some of her classmates complaining about not having enough cake or ice cream or not liking the way the spaghetti tasted or that the spring roll tasted funky or not being able to finish their food after just a few mouthfuls and all.
The usual whining that children at that age usually had.
My daughter was quiet though and tried to finish her food. I have always trained my children to finish their food the best they could. So she tried - in between glances to my direction.
When she finished, she left half of her serving of chocolate cake which I let slide since my wife actually put a lot of it on her plate.
Overall, the party went okay.
In the afternoon, I joined my officemates to tend to another children's party.
This time, it was in line with the City Government's own observance of Children's Month. We sponsored a Trick or Treat event for street children.
That's where the "gut-wrenching" part of the rollercoaster began.
It was pandemonium.
The children were rowdy and undisciplined.
As soon as they saw that we were ready to distribute the food to them, they started yelling and shouting and scrambling to get their share.
It reminded me of a movie where a wounded man accidentally slipped and fell into a piranha infested pool. Knowing, Hollywood, you probably know how it ended for the poor guy.
Fish food.
After noisily finishing up their food in a split second, the children saw that one of the committee members still had an unopened food pack. As soon as he announced, he's giving the food to whoever was still hungry, he got mobbed!
Huge mistake!
I was half expecting him to lose an arm or half a leg when 60 children lunged at him asking for their share of that one food pack.
Poor guy in a pool of piranhas.
During the actual trick or treating activity to store owners in the city-owned mall, we got smart and assigned one marshall for every five children. We knew how stubborn these kids can be so we made it as manageable as possible for the marshalls. Before they did their rounds though, the children gave a special presentation. They sang three songs; the City Hymn and a couple other church songs.
It seemed as if the entire mall went silent when they began singing and I felt a small pinch in my heart as I listened.
The songs were sung in acapella. Amidst the dissonant sound and their off-key singing you can hear them actually try to please everyone. With every rise and fall of their small voices and every wave of their skinny arms with the simple choreography I saw, for the briefest moment, a flicker of hope in their young eyes. Hope that there is, somehow, some bright future awaiting them.
I don't easily get moved by these things. But I couldn't help but get glassy-eyed as I watched them sing.
I quickly blinked the threatening dam away and glanced around to make sure no one was watching.
The hypnosis ended as soon as the children finished their songs and started to get excited about all the goodies that'll start filling up their bags.
The rounds were completed without incident.
We fed them dinner afterwards and it was a sequel to their horror story of a lunch.
Worse even, they started throwing food at each other. One boy even chased a little girl who was making faces at him and gave her a quick right-hook that hit her smack on the kisser - but not before she hurled a left counterpunch that would have put most Mexican boxers to shame.
The rollercoaster ride ended 30-minutes later.
That night, as I was huddled in front of my PC working, I remembered the entire day. It started playing in front of my eyes and right at the computer screen like an old movie.
Just as I was banishing the memory to concentrate on work, my kids came to me and gave me their customary goodnight kisses. My daughter was a bit more tender as she hugged me tight and said, "Love you Papa" before giving me a peck on the cheek.
It was then that the dam broke.
I wanted to rail and rant at the parents of those children we handled earlier in the afternoon. Their irresponsibility and inambition left those poor kids with a future that may be best described by Ninoy Aquino's favorite song - probably their parents' favorite videoke song as well.
From time to time, we get a glimpse of that ever widening chasm between the haves and the have nots. But none is probably more mocking in it's blatant ugly truthfulness as seeing the gap in the faces of young children.
I can, at least, do something about my own children.
But what about the rest?
