Last Sunday, some high school classmates and I paid Mr. Teofilo Lutao a visit. He was our high school math teacher. He was also the math teacher of my older sister, my older brother and my younger sister. He is best described as a Filipino version of Albert Einstien...walrus mustache, messy hair and smokes like a chimney.
Early this year, the news broke out that Mr Lutao had lung cancer. It was my sister who called me. Teachers here don't make a lot of money and health insurance is almost non-existent. The news spread like fire and within weeks students from all batches rallied to raise money for his treatment. A lot of the money came from students now living in the US. I told my classmates who were based in the US and we made arrangements to send whatever we could raise to him. Everybody loves Mr. Lutao because he touched all of us in many different ways. In my case, he failed me in the 3rd grading period of my senior year. I've always been good in math but that grading period I slacked. He was our teacher and our friend but he never let our friendship get in the way of being a teacher. It was a simple lesson...you may be smart, but if you don't study, your going to fail. By the way, I was not the only one he failed. Many of my classmates were failed too and are now lawyers, doctors and engineers. When my classmates and I get together, we always talk fondly of Mr. Lutao. He is everybody's favorite. He is my favorite.
I called Mr. Lutao a couple of months before I left LA. I just wanted to see how he was doing and wished him well. I found out that he was only 26 years old when I was a freshman. He seemed much older then. I told him that I was going to visit him when I got home.
I didn't know what to expect when we first scheduled our visit. I spoke to him briefly on the phone when I first arrived. He had lost his voice and sounded like Mike Tyson. I was happy to see he looked pretty much the same as I had remembered him except he no longer had the walrus mustache. He was in high spirits and he had a positive outlook. We brought lunch and talked fondly of our high school experience with him. Virgil and I reminded him that he failed us. He just laughed. He told Virgil who is now a doctor, that he is in stage 3 and asked what that meant. Virgil told him that if he kept a positive attitude he'll be alright. Later in the car, Virgel told us that stage 3 is a very advance stage. We hung out for a couple of hours and just talked about the good old days. Mr. Lutao was very grateful with the fact that students from all different batches came to visit him and raised money to help pay for his treatment. We left around 1:30PM so he could get some rest.
Seeing Mr. Lutao was one of my priorities in this journey. Some classmates tell me that he may not last very long. I believe that he will last longer than people expect. This may be the last time I see him. I will always think fondly of him. I know that if I every have half the wealth that he has...I would have lived a full life.