THE ANNUAL HERO AWARDS

In the company were I work, there is an annual awarding of “heroés”.  Hero is defined as an employee who have delighted a customer and said customer gave feedback about it to the company. This award giving tradition happens during the company’s anniversary party.

While this is well and good for the employees morale, let me share my own interpretation of what a hero is.

 A hero is someone who knows he’s dying of a really bad disease but keeps on fighting in order to bring his family and loved ones closer to each other. He does not whine nor whimper but offers the pain to God. 

A hero is a mother who after losing her unborn child, picks up the pieces immediately to let the other children know that they are as much loved.

A hero to me is the daughter, who after witnessing her father gets brutally slain, finds it in her heart to offer everyting to God. I myself would only be appeassed if I hear someone whiper : “don’t worry, we’ll kill them all” .

A hero to me is the silent-worker who works 9 to 5 without complaint and goes on day by day without hurting his co-workers.

To me, the  hero is the one who truly deserves to be called a hero but will never have to walk up the podium and be recognized for it.

 Again, that’s only me and my thoughts.

Teaching Pia

It was a week after the wake when I asked Pia again if she really wanted to learn to how to shoot a pistol.

We first talked about it during her dad’s wake in Lipa City, Batangas.  Her father, calculatedly assasinated in front of her elder sister is a memory that their family will never forget.  Pia grew up around guns but never had the opportunity to use any of them.  Her father, retired PAF Colonel Romulo Mantuano, taught his son how to use guns but never the girls in the family. She confessed that she and her elder sister wanted to go try firing guns so they can also experience the real-deal.  It is really a shame that Colonel Mantuano will never teach Pia or anyone else how to responsibly handle a fire-arm.

She said yes to my question without hesitation and we walked towards the firing range.  I introduced her to the range officer and he gave Pia a crash course on GunSafety and Responsible Gun Handling. After an hour of theory, she was prepped for the real-deal.  The range officer fed her gun’s ammunition and she cycled the weapon like a natural born shooter. 

Slowly, she worked herself a steady tempo, following the 6-8 second breathing technique to steady the gun in hand. She squeezed nervously at first but after 20+ rounds, the sound-shock and recoil is already tolerable.  She was a very eager student, absorbing what was taught to her like a sponge.  The stance, draw, and position were textbook execution.

After 2 hours and roughly 118 spent bullets, I knew that Pia was on her way to becoming a good shooter. God have mercy on the jackass that will stand in her wrath, 5 meters or less, will be a life-less jackass.  She hit Alpha 75% ( Center-Mass) . Not bad for a rookie shooter.  

We carried the target back to the office for her to study her ”grouping”.  I asked her if she will come back with me to practice. She said, “next Tuesday, this time, I buy my own bullets”