Counterfeit

Art imitates life. Be it music, dance, theater, visual arts, literature, design, film and broadcast arts, architecture and allied arts. These are the categories from where national artists are immortalized. While it does not include any sport, it does not lack for artistry either, even wizardry. Michael Jordan, Roger Federer, Diego Maradona and a few others come to mind without leaving the memory.

The best form of art is self-expression, which is often misunderstood. It is not supposed to explain, it serves its purpose when it confuses, moves or shocks. Or when it exaggerates for cinematic effect, like life stories of great persons who shaped and defined history and humanity.

Not necessarily of the same relevance, but one life story hugged headlines recently, of a young boxer who is the son of the greatest Filipino athlete. Juicy details about his personal life and circumstances set public interest on fire.

He is a child of a woman not the wife of his father, but being born out of wedlock no longer burns. No birth circumstance is the fault of the child, without reference to children complicit to plunder of and by the parent, either by silence or benefit.

But who the father is and his wife stoked the fire. Especially the wife, within the context of her lifestyle which should not be compared to the simple life of an innocent child that reminds her of the father s guilty betrayal. The child of the husband from another woman is not the wife s responsibility.

No doubt about paternity, the child is recognized by the father. No need for paternity test either. The child looks and sounds like his father, except better, exactly why netizens are abuzz. Looks help, but money rules.

The voyeurs devour on some details unique to him but common to similarly situated children. He was raised by his mother and stepfather who treated him like his own, bullied for being the son of his father whose presence he longed for that he once waited for hours to see him in person.

These and more harsh realities wonders a child of tender age if he is good enough. But it is not only children born out of marital union who ask, every other child does, including adults, as one precursor to depression.

Despite the odds, the kid knows his place and knows where he is going. He may not achieve a fraction of what his father did in boxing, but he could go some place. If not in sports, somewhere else where he can rewrite the story of his life, which plot and twists are common in never ending teleseryes. For in his case, life imitates art.