The Next Seed

On a green pasture field lies the home of the farmer. The farmer, his wife, and their 10-year-old son live in a small squatter-like house. Earning money for a living isn’t a course for the faint-hearted since the mother’s income for being a laundress is only three digits, similar to the father. Luckily, the kid gets into a prestigious school after being screened for the scholarship. However, the school’s environment turns clouds into gray for his son

It was always a rainy feeling for the boy to go to school because his classmates constantly teased him. “Your father is a loser because he only has one leg.” and

“Maybe your father didn’t finish anything; that’s why he is a farmer.” These sentences were always on the boy’s ears because of the repetitive discrimination against his father. His schoolmates often mock his father’s disability and for being a farmer.

After class, the boy walks home with a bad taste. As the lad walked the crowd, one adult mumbled, “Don’t come near him because he is dirty and has lazy parents; that’s why they aren’t rich.” It stabbed his heart, knowing that he was the topic.

Meanwhile, the father heard the news that the law for rice importation was signed. The reporter said, “It is an advantage for the consumer, but not for the farmers. If the trade is more open, the price of local rice cannot keep up with the imported ones.” The father was on cold feet because of the possibility of getting displaced, and the local rice production will be at the edge of a cliff.

As the boy reached his home, the father welcomed him with a smile. The boy snubbed him and went to his room. Later that night, dinner was served, and the boy sat disappointingly. The farmer asked, “Son, how was school?”

The boy only nodded. While the conversation continued, his father noticed a broken-hearted kid and asked his son because he was evidently melancholy. Without a second thought, he said, “If you only finished school and were not disabled, I would not have been ridiculed.”

The couple fell into an endless pit as the boy walked towards his room, leaving his meal.

After a few years, the wide importation remains. The farmer thought that this was their time of the year since it was a cornucopia harvest. But his world collapsed as he heard that the rice importation increased once again. When he sold the crops, he was teary. Local farmers gained low yields, which also affected their income.

On a bright day, the father handed his son his allowance. He bottled up his anger because it wasn’t enough for food, materials for a project, and other miscellaneous. The kid walked to school with frustration. Despite the salary being low, the father endured farming.

Day and night, he guarded the farm as if his life depended on it. He was like a bent-over ruler for planting crops, until an idea slapped him. Voicing out with companions is the best way for him to defend his life for his land.

As the boy and his friends laughed along the sidewalk, one of his amigos pointed at his father. But the boy turned a blind eye and said, “Let’s go and eat.” His father joined the rally with his fellow farmers and advocates in front of the government office. He was the organizer and led the event. As the people continued to shout for justice in farmlands, the military was set out.