THERE is this powerful image that struck me and made me reflect on that inevitable fate that would befall anyone. And that being a destiny, it'll come. It's just a matter of time. I am referring to this picture of an aging lion, ostensively weak and sickly, surrounded by a cackle of hyenas, with teeth and fangs showing, ready to devour this "has been" King of the Jungle.
As a graying-haired man who donned the uniform, spent the prime of his youth serving the Filipino nation and its people, and compulsorily retired after nearly 40 years of active military service, I "saw" in the picture a war veteran or a veteran of military campaigns (as the Philippine Constitution of 1987 calls them). A warrior veteran in his glorious years led men and machines to countless battles, like a mighty lion in his prime that led his pride to many successful hunt. But after many long years, when his strength has waned, his battle scars revealed and age took its toll on him, a veteran will soon be too weak to defend himself. And the hyenas of life will be there to consume him without having to wait until he, or the lion, dies before these mean beasts tear his flesh and rip his bones apart.
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