Circumcision

Circumcision (May 30, 2012)

My first male born son Diego Vito just had his circumcision today and personally, I see such as a rite of passage.  Culturally, I see it as his passage from being a child to an impending adulthood.  It was conducted by a dear colleague Dr. Celino and the operation was done at home.  I think that I owe that fellow a favor down the road.

I am glad that I am at home to facilitate such a passage, for better or for worse, Diego is my first born son and I owe it to him, and for us to make the journey together.  A couple of years from now, and sooner than I expect – he would be physically considered as an adult.  Doing this together serves as a male bonding ritual.  Considering that I still have another son (in the person of Francisco Light) to be circumcised later, it is but proper that I do this with Diego so that I could also do this with Francisco.

Similar to the guilty verdict of the thief justice, this experience is entirely new to me and methinks that I would require a couple of more days to process and ponder about this male ritual.  My only difficulty now is how to comfortably survive and stretch my finances up to the end of June, where I get proper payment from the university.

Suffice it to say that circumcision is a practice brought about by the Muslims in this country and for better or for worse, to be uncircumcised is one of the worst situations to be in.  People would joke about you and more than that, from the perspective of the personal hygiene, it is easier to clean as oppose to an untouched penis.

Symbolically, my son is turning into a man (but not yet really) and along with these transformations comes more problems and adjustments to be made to ease such a change in a person. 

Time really do fly and well before you know it, the twilight of life is upon you.