Brother Moon

It has been more than a year, and I think it is distant enough in time for me to post this anecdote.

One of the last "Writing from The Heart" workshops I conducted for the office was as an outreach program in ____________, well-known to be the most indigent district in Metro Manila. Poverty and drug addiction were rife there. The barangay chairperson was overjoyed to host the workshop and chose the participants himself--wayward youths whom we all hoped would benefit from their awakened creativity. The venue for the workshop was ____________, allegedly a model establishment for educating the poor. It was headed by a Brother ____________, a man in his fifties who had devoted many years of his life to his vocation.

During the workshop there was a to-do behind the library. The female staff were alarmed because a band of addicts had taken off their clothes and were hanging out behind the building, next to the river. One of the staff members approached me and asked if there was anything I could do. Since I was working for the office I replied that the parameters of my duties were restricted to conducting the workshop and being responsible only for the participants of the workshop. I wasn't, after all, representing the Police Department. The following day Brother ____________ promptly added three more participants to the group. I suspected that they were the addicts who were by the riverside the previous day; they certainly seemed spaced out and unable to focus.

At the end of the workshop some of the boys proposed to keep in touch with me electronically, and they remained so until I switched to another social medium. One of them was Z, a public high school student who wanted to come to my house every Saturday not only for more lessons but to learn drawing and painting as well. I said that we could do that if his parents would allow it and if he could be accompanied by an elder relative. Z was the last boy to leave the venue at the end of the workshop. Brother ____________ came and asked me if everything went well. I told him of Z's proposal.

Quite unexpectedly, Brother ____________ quickly transformed into a flamboyant queen, gushing over Z, confessing how much he wanted Z to be with him, and offering him a part-time, Saturday job in a small, resin production factory that he operated out of his home. Z and I were shocked speechless by his sudden change in character. As soon as the office driver arrived I left Z with Brother ____________, wishing them the best of luck.

I wonder, now, whether Brother ____________ is still there, and whether he is a truly happy man. I know that criminals-at-heart are attracted to jobs that have to do with the rehabilitation of criminals, drug-addicts-at-heart are attracted to jobs that have to do with the rehabilitation of drug addicts, prostitutes-at-heart are attracted to jobs that have to do with the rehabilitation of prostitutes, and so on. Unless you're working in an office and simply do what is in your job description, of course.

P.S. in a private message to me a week later, Z later disclosed to me that he never took up Brother ____________ on his offer.