IS IT STILL 'LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON'?

 

“They come through you, but not from you;

and though they are with you, yet they belong not to you.”

Kahlil Gibran in ‘The Prophet’

 

There are some things we inherit from our fathers. If we wish to call them DNA or genes, let’s do. But, to blindly put it on our fathers is plain ignorance… It’s not fair!

The saying, ‘Like father, like son’ – ‘As is the father, so is the son’ – has come from the Latin origin: “Qualis pater, talis filius”. But, I don’t think, that it is so either in Rome or anywhere else in the world!

Between the father and the son, no doubt, there is blood connection. But, there is, also, that invisible, yet all-powerful, filter called ‘Our Choices’… Yes, just as the father made his own choices, the son makes his own. Period.

My father was a born extrovert; I was a born touch-me-not! He, regaled strangers with his raw talent for singing (Konkani folksongs) at every available social venue; I desperately hid myself from everyone! He was an andhbhakt of Mrs. Indira Gandhi; I admired her, too, but never worshipped her with my eyes closed as my dad did. My dad drank like a fish and smoked like a chimney. (He died early due to that). I chose to stay away from booze and smoke, both. My dad did not give me my dreams and passions; I woke myself up to them… I can go on and on to prove my point: “Hello, we need not inherit our graces and sins from our fathers. Because, they need to pass through the filter called ‘Our Choices’!

A criminal’s son has a choice: he can become a criminal like his father; or, he may desire to be a holy man.  Agreed, what the son observes in his father, particularly when in his tender age, can leave strong impressions on the son. But, again, two things can come out of this turmoil: something terrible, or something sublime!

So are the wretched conditions we may be born into. Should a ragpicker’s son grow up into a ragpicker, too? He would, as long as he holds the image of him as a ragpicker!

Let me narrate the story of ‘The Chicken and The Eagle’, all over again:

THE CHICKEN

AND THE EAGLE

One day, on his way home, a farmer found an eagle egg. He took it home and placed it among the chicken eggs. When the chicken eggs hatched, the eagle egg, too, did. The eaglet grew among the little chicks and started behaving exactly the way the chicks did… It grew up into a young eagle, but behaved just as hens did…

Then, one day, the eagle saw a mighty bird in the sky, flying gloriously. Fascinated, it asked the hens, “What is that?”

“It is Eagle, the King of the sky,” hens answered. They, also, started running back into their chicken house, warning the eagle, “Run, run.”

 

Normally, I stop narrating this story, here, just to ponder: Did the eagle on the ground, too, run back into the chicken house, or did he realize who he was?  

You see, in life, our circumstances needn’t become our destinies. Yes, we all have been placed into our respective chicken houses. But, recognizing whether we are chickens or eagles can happen only from our own personal quest and awareness. And, once we recognize who we are, we make our choices to continue where we are, or join where we belong…

“Qualis pater, talis filius”… As is the father, so is the son. No Sir, as is the choice, so is the flight!

 A Happy Father’s Day to all… The chickens and the eagles, both!

 

GERALD D’CUNHA

 

Pic’s: pixabay

 

Video: Neil Diamond/FullHDPro