Murderous Spanking

     Just when the national outrage over the death of Cris Mendez seems to be attenuated by the more controversial issues that now hogged the headlines – the grisly shadows of barbarity that hazing casts still manage to slither back into our consciousness – at least in this part of the Philippines.

     “Hazing” per se, is not illegal, as defined in R.A. 8049, The Anti-Hazing Law. 

SECTION 1. Hazing as used in this Act is an initiation rite or practice as a prerequisite for admission into membership in a fraternity, sorority or organization by placing the recruit, neophyte or applicant in some embarrassing or humiliating situations such as forcing him/her to do menial, silly, foolish and similar tasks or activities or otherwise subjecting him/her to physical or psychological suffering or injury.

     What is proscribed basically is that which involves violence.

     The culture of violence that plague many fraternities (sororities even), regrettably, has climbed and crept out of the college walls, surprisingly into the halls of elementary schools – here in Cebu City.  It was shocking, to say the least, when I read this headline yesterday:

            “Boy’s Death Linked to Hazing”

      The victim is a 13-year old Grade Six pupil.  Read here the news article.

   

     Although questions still abound whether the child died due to dengue or because of the injuries sustained from hazing.  I am surprised how the School Superintendent was so quick to conclude that the child died of dengue.  Yet the child’s father suspects that the child just went through a fraternity initiation rite because of the bruises on his legs, and a big red handkerchief found on him, apparently a known symbol of a gang.  And authorities seemed to confirm that a fraternity/gang is out recruiting young pupils in that community.  Even the City Mayor is now involved; he in fact identified the name of gang and directed that its leaders be summoned to a meeting.  

     I never understood the significance, or at least the implications of hazing, either as a perceived crucial element of, or as a touchtone over which, “true” brotherhood” is forged and gauged.  I once joined a fraternity, and survived a rather “unforgettable” hazing that got me wearing pajamas for three weeks. I called it “silent pain”, as I had to be “silent” about it lest I get a more painful scolding from my mother.  Looking back, I realized, it was not brotherhood we sought.  We were still in high school mind you.  It was the thrill – the unguided, or perhaps misguided, charm of living on the edge.  Our childish contumacy was borne not out of genuine aversion to rules or to authority but rather the excitement derived from setting foot on the dangerous side.  

     We were not looking for friends, as those who joined me in the initiation rites were already my friends, and they still are, as of this writing.  My point is - I found my true brothers in the friends I made over bottles of beer, never in the fraternity meetings that we had.  One realization I have – many brods would probably disagree – is that “hazing”, more to the point, violent “hazing”, is obviously a pointless, empty, and irrelevant facet of fraternities.

     And one more thing – IT KILLS.