It is a rare parent who does not pass on the psychic scars of his past and my father is no different than most. I made this discovery one day when he shared just a few memories of his childhood with me. After listening I found it difficult to blame him for the scars of my childhood.

My dad never knew his real father. He divorced my grandmother when my dad was an infant. My dad's clearest memory was when he was about three years old and playing with the lights in his father's truck. His father said, "Don't do that son, it will run down the batteries..." That, in essence, was the entire childhood interaction between father and son.

I have heard a number of stories about my grandfather's womanizing and the violent alcoholic stepfather who took his place. But, the strongest link to my father's past is a photo of a gravestone in the American Military Cemetery in Manila. The ston...
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