Men and sex

One Sunday morning my wife, daughter and I paid a visit on a distant relative (female) who had spent almost two months in the hospital, and we knew from hearsay that she was suffering from stomach cancer. The name of the condition alone undoubtedly gives the impression that it is terrible and incurable.

When we entered the room, indeed we could see at a glance the pitiful plight our relative was in. She was emaciated due to the long illness, as well as the terrible pain she must have endured. Her eyes flickered for a moment at the sight of us as a sign of recognition, after which they retained their look of hopelessness. At that moment my heart was filled with deep compassion and I had a hard time keeping back my tears.

I started a conversation with her husband, who happened to be a physician. I had not seen him for ages. He seemed to be a good talker with a broad scope of common knowledge, and he still retained his sense of humor. So when I left the hospital, I was impressed by the husband's philosophical manner. However, a few days later I was told that the husband had a mistress, and even bought a house for her. His wife, before she was hospitalized, and his daughter had even gone to confront the mistress at her house.

The mistress, who was a married woman, brazenly admitted to the affair, even with a sense of pride, saying her benefactor had reserved an air-conditioned room for his nocturnal visits. When hearing this story I could not help shaking my head in disbelief at such preposterous deeds. I said to myself, how could such an intelligent man do such a cruel thing to his wife.

It seems to me that the most difficult thing for a man is to control himself. In this case, for example, the husband threw away all feelings of decency, his reputation, his compassion as a human being, just for the sake of indulging in sex.

A. DJUANA

Jakarta