An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth

THOSE who remember the movie Karate Kid recall that a young boy Daniel was new in town and was getting bullied by the local gang.

He vowed to avenge himself and tried to learn karate by himself, only to discover that the caretaker in his apartment, Mr. Miyagi, seemed to be a grandmaster in karate.

Eventually, Daniel sort of mastered the martial art, only to be told by Miyagi that there is more to karate than physical revenge.

Anyway, Daniel got even when he defeated the head bully in a karate competition.

This comes to mind as an angry Fil-Canadian, Joseph Perez Otazu, an Afghan War veteran of the Canadian Army, posted a challenge on social media against the father of the Ateneo de Manila student who beat up a schoolmate.

Otazu said he does not blame the son but the parents, who remained unapologetic for the kid’s behavior. He even offered to pay the father 1100,000 if the latter wins against him.

I can understand how the FilCanadian feels because he has a 13-year-old son and an eightyear-old daughter. They are here on a brief vacation and I think he feels the children would return to Canada with a wrong impression of their mother’s country.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Teddy Locsin Jr., tweeted tongue-in-cheek of taking the matter to the aggrieved family’s hand, perhaps aware, more than anyone else, of the slow hand of justice in the country.

In another tweet, Sec. Locsin suggests getting some sugar farmers in Negros to beat the shit out of the bully.

My take would be for Otazu to spend some time teaching the bullied student, who looks much bigger and taller than the bully, some of the things he learned as a “CQB instructor in the Canadian Army.”

He said he has been in the army for over 20 years and is a combat veteran of Afghanistan.

Then the bullied boy could eventually get even, not by following Miyagi’s advice but the Biblical injunction: “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.”

Case settled.