One of my relative whose husband died and was buried in Germany recently commented that the native children there decorate their parents grave so beautifully that it is difficult to understand that in some of their families parents are left neglected to live a lonely life alone while the children have their own style of living their life.
This could also be happening in some of our community household from generation to generation. Do we need to wait to pay homage to them after they are gone away from this world? Why not give them their due respect while they lived, instead of regretting later. As a child when our parents teach us to say a short prayer thanking God for all that he has given us, some of us instead of inculcating this habit just feel bored to hear another sermon about God preached at home. Later when life trials come our way as we journey through, we remember the advise from our parents regarding spiritual life. At this time we may or may not have our parents around to thank them for the good words they spoke to us.
When it is a child?s birthday, parents go out of their way to celebrate this event, just to cherish their child?s smile and make them happy, but as the child grows older some want to celebrate this great occasion only with friends of their choice – the same parents who are responsible for this birth day are regarded as old fashioned or not up to the mark or they conveniently term it as generation gap. As a child enters into adolescence when parents guide to do the right thing at the right time for eg. Concentration on studies, mixing with the right type of friends, they fail to understand them but are filled with rage by their advise and sometimes wonder why on earth did God choose them to be their parents.
As a child we sometimes wonder why our parents put restriction on certain activities. Instead of heeding to their advise, some disobey and go and do things the way they want and then when things don?t go well, who do we blame? We fail to understand that by their vast experience they are our immediate source of guidance to lead us on the right path in life. Parents always recognize the talents in their children and advise them to develop it further with special training, but some fail to listen and regret later ? at that time there are other things which interest our small mind. Later on in life when we find that others are better placed because of their accomplishment in certain fields, then the good advise from our parents dawns on our mind, but then it is may be too late.
Life goes on in this fashion and when the child enters adulthood, decides to marry and set up his own family, the new members some times find it difficult to cope up with the setting of having old parents around and in some houses are even regarded as a burden – the same parents who spent their life bringing up their child and giving their best advises. It is only on looking back later and remembering the times when we clashed with our parents and felt that they were only out to ruin our fun, that we tend to realize that we got them all wrong, they were indeed guiding us to a better path.
Regards: Susan D’souza – Dubai – U.A.E.
Author: Susan Dsouza- UAE
