Before everyone went on their Holy Week break, the wife and me were able to watch the local presentation of Victor Hugo’s long-running musical Les Misérables at the Solaire Theater in Parañaque City.
Sometime before that, I was able to catch the screening of the critically acclaimed Japanese animé movie Miss Hokusai at the Edsa Shangri-La Mall in Mandaluyong City.
Something French. Something Japanese. One is from the East, while the other is from the West. One was filled with death, violence and hatred. The other subtly touched on men’s fears and the sins of the world.
But you know what? They both made a lot of sense. And to me, both the play and the movie resonated with the same message that your family should always come first no matter the circumstances.
The Holy Week is when I go incognito. That is a time for prayers and reflections for me. Going out of town for a long vacation during that period is never on the table.
So watching Les Miz and Miss Hokusai before the Holy Week was a good reminder for me on the importance of my family, especially since I have a 7-year-old daughter who means so much to me.
If you are not familiar with it yet, one of the central characters in Les Miz is Cossette, who is supposedly being taken cared of by the Thénardiers while her mother Fantine works in a factory.
Eventually, Fantine dies and Jean Valjean, prisoner 24601 who became a town mayor, takes Cossette and raises her like his own daughter.
Meanwhile, Miss Hokusai is the real life story of Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai, who is credited for creating the painting The Great Wave and his daughter O-Ei.
But another main character in the movie is Katsushika’s young blind daughter, O-Nao, whom he is very hesitant to visit. However, O-Ei and O-Nao have a special bond. She always tells O-Ei how much he loves his father and is saddened by the fact that she cannot be there for him.
We all get caught up in this crazy world. I know I do. I spend so many hours at work that the only time I get to see our family, if ever, is during breakfast. I come home late at night and they are already asleep. Weekends are not that much fun either, as I usually spend it sleeping, having been drained from the workweek.
At some point, I know I have to find my work-life balance. But this becomes a chicken-and-egg question. I have to work to ensure my family’s future. But the more I work, the less time I spend with them.
And yet, I work because, just like Valjean in Les Miz, I want nothing but the best for our daughter and our family. I am also overprotective of her. I even told my wife, half seriously, that once she enters high school, I want her to be enrolled in an exclusive school.
Yup, that is just me being paranoid with the world, and what the boys out there could do to her. It is not the same with our two boys, because I keep telling my wife that they can very much handle things on their own once they grow up.
But just like in the play when Valjean saw Marius Pontmercy and understood what Cossette meant to him, he did everything in her power for them to be together, I would, in all likelihood, do the same thing.
Just like all good parents out there, I think it is understood that we want nothing for our children to have a good future and for them to find their happiness.
Meanwhile, just like Katsushika, maybe I am scared a bit to talk much to our daughter, because I might not really amount too much in terms of accomplishments.
She looks up to me a lot, and I do not want her to be disappointed with me in the future. She is growing up fast before my eyes, and the one thing we both love doing ever since is for me to stand in one area while she runs to me with arms spread and with us ending up hugging tightly.
I would hate to see one day that when they are all grown up that I was not able to provide for her and our two boys. That thought scares me a lot.
In the movie, O-Nao dies from some mysterious disease. It was implied in the movie that she was finally able to see Katsushika, as a piece of item that belongs to her for some reason found its way to his home.
I know how I felt when I was watching that scene. There was a feeling of heaviness in my chest, and that I could not wait to get home to see our daughter.
At the end of the day, I believe, we should all push the pause button and get a clearer perspective of all that is happening around us. We should all take stock of our lives and try to understand what is truly important to us.
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Guys, it has been ages since we first did our first mailbag and I would love for us to come out with its second installment.
If you still remember, the drill goes that you send me an e-mail telling me your thoughts on whatever issue or asking me anything that tickles your fancy. From the serious to the totally ridiculous, I am willing to take them all.
Send your e-mails to me until April 20 and let us get the second mailbag edition of this column out on April 24.
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For comments, suggestions and reactions, I can be reached at raalzona@yahoo.com.