Love your parents

The above reads as,

"while parents are alive,
one must not travel afar.
If one must, one's whereabouts
should always be made known"

The word

孝

or

Filial Piety

is one of the virtues to be cultivated:
a love and respect for one's parents and ancestors.

Nowadays, it also includes the elders.

This good virtue has been introduced by

Confucius

or

孔夫子

The Confucius we're talking about today is the one who wrote about the

TWENTY-FOUR FILIAL EXEMPLARS
二十四孝

and not this Confucius

though he's more hilarious than the first one.

Right. Why I have been inspired to write about this is because of what I saw yesterday.
Here's the gist of it.

Father dies 15 years ago.
Mum brings up kid.
Kid becomes a doctor.
Mum is now 71, scrawny, shrunked and weak.
Kid walks first, leaves old mum hobbling behind, alone.
Kid walks so quick that mum does not even know where kid has gone.
Kid does not wait for mum.

Does this sound familiar?

Most likely, my dear readers, you have encountered circumstances like these.

It brought a tear to my eye when I saw this.

My heart broke to see this old woman hobbling on her own while her obstinate mule of a son shot off forward without waiting for his mum. Knowing Malaysia, we have uneven bumpy roads
(oh thank you Malaysia!)
What if your mum walked on these roads, tripped and fell?
How would you feel if she fell and you weren't even there to hold her or help her up?

So what if you are a damn doctor?
No one gives a load of shit about how highly qualified you are.

This has enraged me.
I am disgusted at how the current young generation is treating their parents.
Your mother gave her life to give birth to you. She could have died at labour trying to squeeze your sorry ass out of her terribly dilated and enlarged vagina. But yet, because of the overpowering maternal love, she did it anyway.
Your parents gave you all they could to bring you up.
To give you the best education, the best life.
To turn you into a doctor.
You are what your parents have greatly sacrificed.
You are obliged to at least show some concern for them

Kudos to single parents. I really salute you. You have the biggest sacrifice of all on this earth.
Bringing a monstrosity up, alone.

Well done.

We as children, should never ever neglect our parents.
When I was growing up, my mother would drive past the St. Nicholas Home for the Old and Aged, and she would tell me,

"Ann, one day you'll send me here"

I said no of course, and we both started tearing.
I am sure all of you have seen on tv of parents abandoned in old folks home, parents left on streets to beg, parents dying alone in the house unknown to everyone till their bodies have decomposed several days later.

Have you felt sad at the sight/thought of this?

Yes? Good.

No? You deserve to burn in hell.

Your parents worked their tired ass off to buy you school shoes, pencils, colour pencils, everything you could ever want when you were growing up. They had a choice to live a better live than suffering with you. But they still chose to have you anyway.

And now, you have forsaken them.

The held you to walk at your weakest age when you were growing up.

Now you have left them walking alone at their weakest, their most vulnerable.

If you have left your parents alone in homes, and you yourself are living a comfortable life,
then I can outrightly say that you're an animal.

If you're rich, hire a personal maid. Don't throw them in homes and expect the people to take care of them.

Petronas has done the best thing they could, showing commercials at festive seasons to remind all of us that the most important thing on this earth is your parents.

You owe them your life.

You can not forsake them at their eleventh hour. When they no longer have means to provide for you. When they are no longer as strong or as lively as they were.

They spent half of their lives to bring you where you are.
Yes, sometimes parents make mistakes along their lives.

But to err is human. I am uncomfortable around Gods.
No one is perfect.
Part of live is forgiving mistakes and letting go.

I recall this Petronas ad on Chinese New Year several years ago.
This old elderly woman slogged and slave for the New year's eve Reunion Dinner,
only to wait and wait, but none of her children came back to eat with her.

Just writing this has brought a tear to my eye.

There are no words to explain how I strongly feel about this.
When I was younger, yes I admit I have considered moving away and never coming home.
But now as I have aged (albeit slightly) I have realised that our parents need us more now than ever. They are at their twilight years. They are no longer as strong as they were when we were young and weak.
And rememeber that they were there at every step of the way when we were growing up.

As I try to persuade this gently to you,

Go home, hug your parents.
They will not be there forever.
They need you.
They need your time and care.

Not your money.

I remember when I used to visit my grandpa in Penang.
He lives in this mansion alone with grandma.
He had this article hung up from a million years ago.

It wrote,
"A little charity could kill your parents of a broken heart"

What the article tried to sum up was,
your parents don't need your money. They are fine as they are.
What they need is only your time and concern.
To sit down and talk to them.
To make them feel that you still love them.

The only unconditional love on this earth is from a parent to their child.

The otherway proves otherwise.

Your parents will NEVER EVER forsake you.
Your partners will.
Even if your parents did, I am sure they had valid reasons to.

So my dear readers, after reading this blog, please take time to contemplate about it.

Please give your parents time and patience.
For when you were at your weakest,
your parents gave you all of theirs.

On a lighter note, another person who has greatly (and rightly I thnk!) used Confucius to promote the greatness of laughter is Russell Peters

He is the best! :)

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