Patrick Tan

Last night I talked with Mimi over the phone. And revealed an incident back at the camp. Mimi is a close friend from another church. And the kids had been seeing her quite a few times. So as the opportunity came to interogate this lady stranger in their dorm, they came up with really funny and eye-opening questions and comments:

- (To Mimi) Sino ka ba talaga? Kaano-ano mo si Kuya Patrick? Hindi nga, seryoso...
- Hindi namin alam na may kaibigan pala si Kuya Patrick...
- Hindi mo pa nakita sa Kuya Patrick na magalit at magwala... Nagwo-walk-out yan!...
- Sana makita naman namin yung Kuya Patrick na nakikita mo...

On hearning those comments, I don't know how to react, will I laugh it off or be insulted. But I was sad. About the third comment, well, that's during the early years of my administration as I had a share of my own tantrums, I've grown out of it now, ok. The kids demand more friendship with me, which I am struggling to open myself to them. They see me as an older brother. I am a different person to different people. As a friend I am very different from being a leader. Which when the kids saw, they felt they've been missing out on that other side of me.