Professional Courtesy

Today's Word

Word Alive 

Professional Courtesy

By FR. BEL R. SAN LUIS, SVD 

September 13, 2011

There’s a lot of talk these days about “Lolong,” the biggest crocodile in the country, caught in Bunawan, Agusan del Sur. But that’s nothing. There are some bigger and more dangerous “human crocodiles.” Reminds me of the story about a doctor, a priest, and a politician who were out in a fishing boat. Their motor had broken down and one of the oars had drifted off. Just as the doctor was about to dive into the water to retrieve the oar, the boat was surrounded by crocodiles. “I can’t go now,” the doctor said. If someone gets bitten, you’ll need my services.” 

* * * 

“I can’t go either,” said the priest. “If the doctor fails, I’ll need to give the last rites.” “Fine,” said the politician. “I’ll get it.” He dived in, the crocodiles moved away, and he retrieved the oar and climbed back into the boat. The doctor and priest, looking flabbergasted, said, “How did you do it?” The politician just smiled and said, “Professional courtesy.” 

*** 

In my column the other Wednesday, I wrote how I witnessed an actual Bukas Kotse robbery on EDSA past Guadalupe Bridge where traffic grinds to a stop due to a perennial bottle neck before the Shaw Boulevard underpass. In the same article, I called on the police authorities to assign some men to check that place. I’m glad to see on the 6:30 p.m. TV news last Friday, September 10, that the police acted on our call, because some boys that preyed on a taxi were tracked down and apprehended. Good work! 

* * * 

In the TV news, three kids were caught swiftly opening the doors of a taxi, then running off with the passenger’s things. The driver alighted in pursuit but they ran faster and even threw stones at the poor driver. 

Identified from a CCTV installed nearby, those young teeners were tracked down and picked up. As they were herded into the police vehicle, the parents and relatives engaged in a tug-of-war trying to free them from the hands of the policemen. 

My question is: Why did those parents and relatives have to defend them desperately? That the children had become street hoodlums is clearly the parents’ fault since they failed to teach them to shun illegal activities like stealing. Or, were they tolerating them because, as minors, they won’t land in jail but in some rehabilitation center only? 

Molding the minds of children is the parents’ primary responsibility. As the saying goes, there are no juvenile delinquents but parental delinquents. 

* * * 

I recall in a court hearing when the parents were summoned for crimes committed by their young son, the judge reprimanded the parents, saying: “Unless parents, like you, teach their children to avoid evil and obey the laws, the courts and society will always be saddled with offenders.” 

Children who are either spoiled or neglected are on the way to becoming the criminals of tomorrow. If they are never corrected, that will make them blind to their faults – until it is too late. 

* * * ST. JUDE. Got a serious problem with money, studies or exams, sickness, or marital/family relationships? Tomorrow, Thursday, join our novena to St. Jude, Saint of the Impossible, at the Divine Word Shrine, Christ the King Seminary Compound, on E. Rodriguez Boulevard, Quezon City, right after the 6 p.m. Mass. A healing session will follow.