Line up boys, summer’s here!

CEBU, Philippines - If you decide to have it during Christmas vacation, you will only have little time to heal and recuperate.  And you don’t want to attend your class party in a big T-shirt and walk like you have just delivered a quadruplet. 

You don’t want to go around lifting that shirt up all the time so it doesn’t stick to the wound because when it does, you will surely cry a thousand rivers when your parents start peeling it off.  If you also decide to have it any day of the school year, you will surely be skipping classes and miss the lessons and quizzes. Hence, there is no other perfect time of the year except summer to finally face what you have been dodging all this time— circumcision.  Summer can give you all the time to hide (that is, if you wanna hide because when I was a young boy like you, me and friends didn’t hide at all.  Every single summer day we kept track of how fast we’re healing.  We even laughed about how different we all really were amidst the commonalities). 

It’s kind of fun lining up for it, you know.  You get to hear all the fears that kids your age share while waiting for their turn.  You get to feel how nervous we all become as we move closer to the sharp edge.  There are those who keep on laughing because they do not want the other kids to know they’re scared—as in scared to death (they are the big boys, usually).  They’re the ones who try as much as possible to send the message that “boys don’t cry.”  However, there are also those who never laugh at all because they just can’t hide how scared they are (They are just little boys whose parents keep on pushing them back to the line).  These little ones seem to be breathing heavily, with pale lips, hearts pumping erratically. They are the ones who, at anytime now, will scamper away.  But what will you get if you run to escape.  Ahead of you there’s about 50 or 60 summers.  Do you think you can run that long to stop the bullies?  I don’t think so.

From one who has undergone through all the pain and triumph of this not-so-comfortable coming of age ritual, I believe there are two ways to undergo it: one is through pakang.  That is, a well-known manunuli (surgeon) sets up his summer clinic under a mango tree or beside the barrio’s chapel for a day’s round of circumcision.  His tools are a single blade knife a guava branch with a diameter of two inches and a foot long, and some guava leaves for you to chew while the surgery is quickly done.  It is so quick you won’t be able to make out the animals in the clouds.  The reason why the surgeon asks you to look at the sky and not the knife is for you not to chicken out or collapse, and be laughed at by the kids in the line.  The surgeon makes sure this simple rule is observed because he knows that most of those who chicken out never come back.  And he doesn’t want you to grow old with a secret everybody knows.  As soon as the short stitch is done, you can spit out your guava leaves on your hand and place it on the wound and let the leaves’ antiseptic qualities cool it down.   Congrats!

The scene in the hospital’s operating room is surely different from pakang.  You lie on your back on the operating bed with a perfect view of three dome lights on top.  State of the art tools like weird-looking scissors specially made for this unique surgery, the needles and syringes, special threads for the stitching, anesthetics (so you won’t feel the ant’s bite), alcohol, Betadine (instead of the guava leaves), and lots of cotton.  Plus, nurses aside from the doctor will carefully attend to you. They see to it that the operation goes as planned.  However, the usual feeling of terror stays with you pakang or not.  I do not know if  pakang is still practiced in the city because I have not seen one in years.  Instead, I see medical missions and free clinics for willing boys whose parents cannot afford to pay the hospital bill.  In behalf of the boys that you have circumcised free of charge, thank you doctors and nurses and support staff for your generosity, kindness, and expertise.  You are truly angels!

If you’re not one who chicken out, then we can talk about how best your wound can heal in the summertime.  Seawater is the best cure.  So, if you want it to heal fast so you still have plenty of time for biking or for any basketball clinic, frequent the beach.  Stay soaked in the salt water for as long as you like (of course, if the sun’s so hot get out of the water right away.  The heat might kill you).  If you have relatives in the province, you can maybe ask your parents to leave you there for a week or two to soak in the sea, especially early in the morning.  In the morning, the sea is cleanest.  Just stay away from those tiny fish who love to bite your legs.  Of course this fish measures to a max of two mm only, too tiny to kill you.  But beware because they’re like sharks when they smell blood they attack.  And when they attack, they attack in groups.  Run!

Today, some parents prefer to have their boys circumcised right after they are born to prevent them from future embarrassment. Or maybe these parents just don’t want the burden of pushing their sons back in line when the day comes.  On the other hand, there are parents who prefer not to have their sons circumcised at this stage.  They want it done when the boy is of school age already.  They want their sons to experience one very important thing children need to learn—to face trials squarely. Trials are coming to our children day in and day out.  And more will come to them later in life.  Why not allow them to face circumcision courageously, like a man? 

To be fair to the children, sometimes no circumcision happens because some parents do not know how to act like a man.  Be brave, little one! (FREEMAN)