Learning to appreciate
Thursday, August 28, 2008
I was walking home from the Tway bus stop this afternoon and there was a family walking on the walkway in front of me. There were two guys leading in front, probably the father and grandfather or something, and the mother and daughter walking behind them. The girl looked about 12 years old, and she was carrying a back pack.
So anyways, they probably all knew I was walking behind them, because my shadow was casted like 2 meters in front of me on the pavement. Well, the girl turned around as soon as she saw my shadow, looked at me, then turned back. She then took off her bag and gave it to her mum to carry. Her mum tried to carry it onto her shoulders, but the straps were too small, so she carried it with one of her hands. With her other hand, she tried to hold her daughter's hand, but the girl yanked her hand away as soon as the mother touched it. The mother said something in their language to the daughter and tried again, but the girl kept on edging her hands away.
When we walked further down the road, the mother stopped to tie her shoelaces, and the daughter walked further ahead, stopped, then put her hand on her hip as if she were impatient and signalling her mother to hurry up. When the mother caught up with the family, she said something to her daughter in their language and held the bag out to the daughter, and the daughter pushed the bag back and replied 'YOU carry it'. Then, the mother attempted to hold her daughter's hand again, yet she was rejected again.
Watching all this, I found the girl to be really disrespectful to her mother and taking her mother's love and care for granted. Also, because of a stranger (thats me lols) present, she seemed like she didn't want to embarrass herself by responding to her mother's expression of love.
It's funny kinda, because that girl reminds me of myself. It reminds me of myself when I was around her age. I use to think it was embarrassing to show affection to your parents in public, not realizing it is actually one of the greatest gifts you can give to your parents, especially to your mother. It's weird how long it usually takes for people to realize that small gestures like these can mean so much to their family. It also shows how much people take their parents for granted.
Even now, I unconsciously take my parents for granted and I don't appreciate them to the extent they deserve. I don't think my appreciation will ever make up for all the things my parents have done for me out of unconditioned love.
It's not that I just realised all this now, but I kinda thought deeper about this after seeing the mother and daughter's actions today. You could say it was an eye opener? I'm still young. I shouldn't be fighting with my parents, and being a teenager is not an excuse for it to be normal or okay to argue with your parents on a regular basis.
Thinking about it now, all the arguments I've had with my parents are for my well being e.g. sleeping late, staying on the computer for too long, etc. As my cousin Ben once said 'Don't give your parents a reason to restrict you...'
So, hopefully if its not too late, I'll actually try to make an effort to not do anything (even something really small) to annoy my parents and I really have to learn to appreciate them more.
Labels: family, life, school
