Monday, December 8, 2008

My parents

This is a rather peculiar post. It is not about what happened yesterday or a debate on a particular topic but instead, it is a post on how grateful i am to have MY parents.

I will start off by saying something every other son or daughter will say. I HAVE THE BEST PARENTS IN THE WORLD! But sorry to the rest of you out there, cause mine really ARE the best and i am going to tell you why.

My parents both had good careers ahead of them from before i was born, they both enjoyed their jobs and love the friends that they had at work. BUT, as soon as i was born, my mother decided to quit her job and also the circle of friends she had there, JUST so she could dedicate her life fully to looking after me. My dad on the other hand was supportive of this even after knowing that now, he was the sole provider of the house.

Some might say, she is stupid to throw her career like that, she can hire a maid or put me in child care. But my mother knew she could trust no one except herself with her son. Others might say, "aiya, what so difficult stay at home only wad, more slack than everyday go work". Well, maybe your parents told you that. Sad to say, your parents were wrong. Think about this, all you do, for the rest of your life, is stay home, cook, clean and look after your son with the risk that when he grows up, they are just going to not bother about you. The only thing you look forward to is................... nothing. You cannot achieve anything that is deemed fruitful in the career world, you dont have much friends and money cause now you do not work. But, my mother still did it, why? Cause she loves me and she did not, even for a second, think about herself. All she did, she did for me.

My dad, seems to lead a rather easy life, cause he goes to work and thats all he does. BUT, thats not true. Now i realize why i am able to have anything i want. Because, all the money he earns, he does not use it for himself. Come to think about it, i don remember when was the last time he bought himself something. Everything is either for the house or for his children. It is not because he does not earn enough. For those of you who are closer to me, you know my dad earns a steady income, but still he does not spend anything on himself. He provides me with what i need and much more. The rest of the money, he saves it for me again, for the future.

Think about this, you study and work all your life, and since 18 years ago, you barely spend any of the money for yourself. Think about it this way, you go out and work for a month, your work timing is anytime of the day. You can work at 2am till the next day 12pm and come home, sleep 2-3hrs and go back to work again at 5pm the same day. And yea, you get my drift. Then at the end of the month you give EVERYTHING away. Tell me if YOU can do that. Not just for that month, but for the rest of your working life.

For the past 18 years, mother hasnt gone for much shopping, she hasnt gone for medicures or pedicures or any other pleasures that will benefit her, why? Cause all the money my dad earns, he gives to my sister and I and he will only give enough to my mother to buy things for the household. NOT because he is selfish, but because they both have agreed to sacrifice EVERYTHING for my sister and I. The biggest sacrifice is that, it is not because the family is poor, and everyone has to be tight with the spending, but instead, it is beacuse the sum of money my dad earns is given to my sister and I to spend without thought and so that we can be happy.

Lets take 2 simple scenarios
Firstly, my mum walks into a shop and sees a really nice dress. It costs $60, she really needs it for a wedding dinner but thinks and thinks and thinks and in the end she walks out of the shop without the dress. Moments later, I call and tell her i WANT to buy a nike shoe which cost $169 for no reason. I dont need it, just want to buy for the sake of it. Without thought, she will transfer me the money. Then she will just go home and make do with something she already has.

Secondly, my dad, after whole life of working hard and get a gd job with a great pay. Thinks of getting a nice car for himself, like most fathers out there, i mean wouldnt you want to show that you are an establish adult after you worked so hard for it? But after much thought, he decides, he rather spend the money on my sisters and my education and instead, he uses the company car which is some rubbish ford focus when he can afford something much more prestigious, then suddenly he sons turns 18 and asks for a car. Without thought, he agrees to buy one for him after he passes his driving licence. Which father will do that? For all the years of his life, he has either taken the bus or a taxi or use the company car to go to work which i must add, is at strange timings. And now he buys a car for his son, knowing that he has to pay the petrol and all other maintainence that comes with it. AND, he continues to use the company car everyday.

All this, is more than just about money, it is the love and the sacrifice that has been made by my parents just to see ME happy everyday. Anyone can find any parents out there that is the same as mine. Please come and tell me.

You might say, hey my parents will also buy for me car or my parents also give me enough money to spend wad. BUT, look at all these parents who buys cars for thier children or gives their children countless amounts of money to spend, if you realized they too have nice cars and endless amounts of designer clothes and they too are enjoying the pleasures of life. Why? Cause they ensure that they themselves are ok and living a gd life first, then they will worry about thier kids. So they are different.

Find me parents who are living the life of the poor just so thier children can live a luxurious life. Cause those are what my parents are like. This is just a small fraction of what my parents sacrifice for my sister and I. If i were to list out everything, i could publish a whole new series of books.

Some might say after reading this, that it cant be true, no one would do something like this for anyone else. It is just too inhuman to be this selfless. Well, you know why you think that way? Simply because you did not grow up in MY family. Thats why my parents are the BEST parents in the world.

Then others might say, but your parents like this, they will spoil you and thats not good also what.

But, think about it. If they did spoil me and i dont know the value of money cause i just spend spend spend. Would I be writing this in the first place?

Mummy and Daddy, I am sorry for everything wrong i did to you, I WILL change, only time will tell.

I love you both, more than you guys could have ever imagined.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

eh lester, grow up already sia, sensible. and your parents are really damn nice to you.

Syafiq said...

MoLester so emotional..
Actually, most parents in SG are like that my friend. They put their child way ahead of them and would sacrifice just about everything that they have just so that their child will have a luxurious life.
Maybe it's because they've experienced the hard times when they were kids themselves and they would never want their child to experience the same thing as they did.
Cheers to all parents:)