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In Defense of My Father by Janjan Perez I write this dissertion in answer to all the detractors that have been pulling my father down on all sides in my family. To all you who claim to know him and dismiss him outright as a fallen angel, read on and I may yet enlighten you. To all of you who have spoken out loud “Who does he think he is??!!,” read on and find out. Who does my father think he is, you say? Well, I don’t know what my father thinks he is but I do know who my father is and I am more than qualified to answer your question for you. My father is Dr. Jaime Perez, and I am his son. My father is a good man. He is hardworking and loyal to his family. Yes, I admit, my father is flawed, but he is a good man nonetheless. My father may not be perfect, but he is aware of his weaknesses. He does not go around boasting to others of his own importance, but neither does he downplay what he is. My father knows his own worth. He does not trumpet his achievements. He does not need to. His own actions speak for its self. My father values hard work, independence and responsibilty. All my family’s needs have been provided for adequately by him. Not once did we his children go hungry, nor once did we not have enough money for our tuition. My father never squelched on his duties. He has never run to other people for help in providing for us. Believe me, this was not easy on him. Being a doctor is a hard job, and sometimes he has gone for months without receiving a non-charity patient. But nonetheless, it feels me with pride for my father knowing that he earned his wages honestly without any help from others. And he was always a good doctor, treating all his patients equally whether or not they were rich, poor, good or bad. You could ask each and every one of his patients and they will tell you themselves that my father is a good doctor. He has proven time and time again that he would willingly go above and beyond the call of duty to save a patient’s life. My father is loyal to his family and friends. Ask him for help and he would never turn you down despite whether or not he likes you. He is always willing to extend a hand. My father is generous, sometimes to a fault. Even when we could not afford it, my father would lend money to people who needed it. Even to you, oh relatives with selective memories. My father is not the type to tell anyone how generous he is, but you could ask around and you will find the legacies that he has left behind to his fellow man. You, my ungrateful kin, do not have the position to sling mud at my father, not after the countless blood, sweat, and tears that he has shed for you and for your family when you needed it the most. You have not and can never will repay my father for all that he has done for you. My father is a prideful and sensitive man. He would not take your belittling of him lying down. Neither would I, his son. That is why my father acts the way he does around you. Who would not, after knowing that someone you gave your all to, turns around and stabs your back before others? And you have the gall to call him arrogant? Well sir, look who’s talking! Who does my father think he is? I don’t know the answer to that question but I can tell you what I think of him. I am very proud of my father, and that is not something that every child can rightfully claim of their own parents, especially your own. My father is a great man. He is honest, kind, hard-working and he has never shirked on his responsibilities nor has he gone out to leech off from other people. He has never betrayed his family. My father is his own man, and he should not have to defend himself before the likes of you. You have no right to speak badly of him You should watch your tongue the next time you raise your ire. There is a saying which goes that people who live in glass houses should not throw stones. There is another which says that the empty tin can makes the loudest noise. I believe that it is time for you to keep quiet. You are in no higher moral ground to thus look down on my father, and it pains me, his son, to hear you speak thusly of someone that I love. Keep quiet, my misguided kin. Do not cross this family because I guarantee you… your efforts will not prevail. You will only be digging yourself a bigger hole to fall into. And I will not let you tarnish my father’s good name. I will not let you destroy us. Perhaps it is well that you have now revealed your true colors before my family. At least we now know of the wolves before our midst. But no more will we give you the chance to hurt us. Perhaps now, as we move away from your lives… perhaps now you will realize how much my father has done. Perhaps now you will realize how much the ungrateful bastards you have all become.
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Bones from the Graveyard ™© J.R. Perez 2000 All works contained herein are the sole properties of their respective authors |