A Mother's Day Story

He loves her as any son should his mother. Yet he hates the power that she has over him. He obeys her as any son is taught to do. Yet he resents the control that she has over his life. He is intimidated by her but he follows her every whim anyway. He decided to run away and try to live his own life. Yet she still manages to get to him.

She, even from a distance, exerts everything in her power to rule his life. Nothing and no one was or is ever good enough for her son. She cannot stand the thought of her son succeeding without her. She is living her life vicariously through him.

He learned to lie to her. To keep her at a distance. So she would, hopefully, leave him alone. He struggles to find the balance between loving her and ignoring the hurtful words she would sometimes say. But the hurt (and hatred) was already planted when he was young.

When he was in grade school, he inadvertently found out from his aunt that his mother tried to abort him. And she tried. And tried. Up to the eighth month of pregnancy. He tenaciously hung in there and survived. He remembers how his mother "hated" him: punishing him for very little things, not allowing him to play outside with other kids, telling him how "stupid" he is. And so he swore vengeance.

He did really well in school; graduating first in grade school and second in high school. He was accepted at a university and took up engineering because he was good with numbers. And because his mother said so; otherwise, she will not spend a centavo on his education. She never had to; he was a recipient of a scholarship that paid for everything. He swore that he would make her feel sorry for almost killing him. That by living every day, and making her feel the guilt, he would somehow feel better himself.

Now, as an adult man, he cannot move without her consent. She wants him to tell her everything that he does. She wants him to come home but he doesn't want to do that. He feels that the physical distance between them now is enough for him to do his "thing". She has threatened to withhold her support of him. He told her he wants to stay where he's at right now. She has since stopped returning his phone calls or text messages. Now, they're at a standpoint. Wait till she finds out that he's sleeping with another man. And likes it.

Sounds familiar? Yup. The Filipino version of the Greek myth known as the Oedipus Complex without the sexual preoccupation. That would be taboo. Soon to air over GMA or TFC...


Y'all have a great Mother's Day this Sunday!


FYI:

Considered a normal stage in the development of children of both sexes between the ages three to five, Oedipus complex ends when the child identifies with the parent of the same sex and represses its sexual instincts. Sigmund Freud, who first used the term in the infamous "Interpretations of Dreams", theorized that the unsuccessful resolution of the complex results in neurosis and homosexuality. Hmmmm... interesting...