Mother’s lament

The other day, I received a two-page, handwritten letter from a certain Grizelda Barredo.

In her letter, she introduced herself as the mother of blind Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) Commissioner Mike Barredo who, a few weeks ago, was accused of sexually molesting a janitress at the PSC training facility in Teachers Camp, Baguio.

Mrs. Barredo wrote the letter in reaction to a column I wrote on her son. The column, entitled "Milestones for Mike," delved on Barredo’s vision for the differently abled since he joined the PSC in April last year.

The other day, Barredo and his wife Barbara celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary with sons Stephen and Richard. When Barredo figured in a car accident that took away his vision almost 24 years ago, his wife was pregnant with Richard. Barredo had already lost his eyesight when Richard was born so he has never seen his second son.

In today’s column, I am reproducing her letter in full. Listen to a mother’s lament.

"Thank you for the article you wrote a couple of days ago. You cannot begin to imagine how I felt, reading it. Tears poured unabated as the memory of that terrible accident came flashing back ... and now, this.

"My son is suffering. Do you know how it is to watch a man sightless as he is, cry? The pain is beyond description. I could only hug him in a tight embrace as I did 23 years ago.

"Your kind and compassionate article touched my heart. It restored my faith in the goodness of man. ‘Barredo’s mission is far from over ...he has just begun’ are the same fighting words I told my son.

"He has been fighting all his life, to make his own place in the sun. He has lost his eyes but he never lost his vision to make this world a better place to live in especially for the disabled like him. I remember him asking me soon after the accident, ‘Why did this happen to me, Ma?’ And I said, ‘We don’t know why things happen the way they do. Only God knows. He only gives the heaviest burdens to those who are strong enough to carry them. He undoubtedly has a mission for you to do.’ And that is what he’s doing now.

"I am very proud of my son. He faced life without flinching, eyeball to eyeball with eyes that cannot see. What he has accomplished in the total darkness of this world is far beyond what 10 men, with all their faculties intact, put together can do. He is a sterling example of courage of the highest caliber.

"But then, this is an ugly, ugly world we live in. There are unseen forces of evil around us. We don’t know who they are and why they do the things they do.

"Do you know he has traveled to Canada and the US alone? I die every time he does that. He would brush aside my ‘be careful,’ ‘how are you going to eat,’ ‘who is going to guide you’ and many more of my fears. He would say, ‘Ma, I cannot afford to be afraid.’

"He is fearless. He has to be, to survive. But this latest thing that happened is making him realize how vulnerable he is. How can one protect himself, let alone fight, when one cannot see? Every time I tell him, watch your back, son,’ he would laugh and say, ‘how can I do that, Ma?’ He knows what I mean.

"This, too, will pass as all things do. The wounds will heal but the scar will be there forever. Knowing my son, he will rise above all these and come out of it a better man.

"Words written about this incident have been very cruel and so untrue. It saddened me so much, ‘man’s inhumanity to man.’ I can only pray that God forgive them.

"Thank you again, Quinito. May I call you that? God bless you and your family. You are a good man."

We can all learn from what Mrs. Barredo so eloquently expressed in her letter.