Tuesday, October 11, 2011

In Memory of My Dad

It is still vivid in my mind how tears flowed freely from my dad's eyes when he finally broke the story to us all, the story that was so personal that not even my mother new it.

It all began one night when we all were immersed in another tear-jerking Malay drama on television. 


Candidly these words blurted out of my sixteen-year-old mouth: "Dad, why didn't you ever go back home to your parents in Rembau? It is a great sin for a son not to visit his mom and dad..."


As sudden as the words came out, so too was his reaction to my probing questions.


"It is not like what you all are thinking. I am not an ungrateful son..."


He was all tears and sobbing terribly as he began to narrate his childhood story to us.


It all began when he felt that, probably because of his darker complexion, he was not loved as a son was expected to be loved by a father.

One night, just as his father came home, he heard his stepmother asked his father why didn't he give the job to my father.


"Why should I give the job to him? It is better for me to give it to somebody else."


The words nailed in deep into his young heart. He packed his things and got into a night train to JB.


In JB he was taken in by an auntie who raised him like her own son.


"I even share rice with others while working..."


None back home even reported to the police about him went missing...


..to be continued....


 

Some people have lost their sense of humility

Usually I do not pay much attention how another man behaves. For me it is up to him to act in any way he thinks best for him.

But, there is this man, a close relative of mine, who suddenly pisses me off whenever he is with us.

He is so uppity and outright show-offish that I just cannot tolerate him any more.

Yes, I know what he must be feeling right now. He must be at the top of the world, with all his children working and having a house bigger than many of us (except ours may be).

Well, may be it is his way of being thankful to God for the many blessings received.

The way he carries himself in public, the way he treats other people (me including) make me want to puke.

Sorry for being rude, but that is what I feel every time he opens his big mouth.

Imagine in a sad gathering recently, he went around telling people that soon one or two of his children will get married; and for each function, nothing less than 30K would be spent.

Why did he has to tell people that? Is he that filthy rich? I don't think so.

Another relative of mine who used to behave in almost similar fashion, is showing all the humility now.

That too not because he likes it, I think. But just because of the not-so-good economy right now.

He still go about doing things in grandeur style though.

Come on people, nobody is really rich when he still needs somebody to help him sometimes.

Why not be humble and keep in a low profile. A poisonous black mamba or Malaysian krait will not lose its poison just because it crawls along some lowly roots somewhere.

And a glass will always be a glass no matter how well and lavish you package it, but a diamond will still be a diamond and highly sought after by people even if it is deep in man's midnight soil!