| Posted By:Hajas On 12/1/2005 |
|
My Lord! bestow on them (Parents) thy Mercy even as they cherished me in
childhood." [17:24]
My mom only had one eye. I hated her... she was such an embarrassment . My
mom ran a small shop at a flea market. She collected little weeds and such
to sell...anything for the money that we needed, she was such an
embarrassment.
There was this one day during elementary school. I remember that it was
field day, and my mom came. I was so embarrassed. How could she do this to
me? I threw her a hateful look and ran out. The next day at school..."Your
mom only has one eye?!" and they taunted me. I wished that my mom would just
disappear from this world, so I said to my mom, "Mom, why don't you have the
other eye?! You're only going to make me a laughingstock. Why don't you just
die?" My mom did not respond.
I guess I felt a little bad, but at the same time, it felt good to think
that I had said what I'd wanted to say all this time. Maybe it was because
my mom hadn't punished me, but I didn't think that I had hurt her feelings
very badly. That night...I woke up, and went to the kitchen to get a glass
of water. My mom was crying there, so quietly, as if she was afraid that she
might wake me. I took a look at her, and then turned away.
Because of the thing I had said to her earlier, there was something
pinching at me in the corner of my heart. Even so, I hated my mother who was
crying out of her one eye. So I told myself that I would grow up and become
successful, because I hated my one-eyed mom and our desperate poverty. Then
I studied really hard. I left my mother and came to Seoul and studied, and
got accepted in the Seoul University with all the confidence I had. Then, I
got married. I bought a house of my own. Then I had kids, too. Now I'm
living happily as a successful man.
I like it here because it's a place that doesn't remind me of my mom.
This happiness was getting bigger and bigger, when someone unexpected came to see
me "What?! Who's this?!" ...It was my mother...Still with her one eye. It
felt as if the whole sky was falling apart on me. My little girl ran away,
scared of my mom's eye. And I asked her, "Who are you? I don't
know you!!!" as if he trying to make that real. I screamed at her "How
dare you come to my house and scare my daughter! GET OUT OF HERE! NOW!!!"
And to this, my mother quietly answered, "oh, I'm so sorry. I may have
gotten the wrong address," and she disappeared. Thank good ness... she
doesn't recognize me. I was quite relieved. I told myself that I wasn't
going to care, or think about this for the rest of my life.
Then a wave of relief came upon me...one day, a letter regarding a school
reunion came to my house. I lied to my wife saying that I was going on a
business trip. After the reunion, I went down to the old shack, that I used
to call a house...just out of curiosity there, I found my mother fallen on
the cold ground. But I did not shed a single tear. She had a piece of paper
in her hand.... it was a letter to me.
She wrote:
My son...
I think my life has been long enough now. And... I won't visit Seoul
anymore... but would it be too much to ask if I wanted you to come visit me
once in a while? I miss you so much. And I was so glad when I heard you were
coming for the reunion. But I decided not to go to the school.... For you...
I'm sorry that I only have one eye, and I was an embarrassment for you. You
see, when you were very little, you got into an accident, and lost your eye.
As a mother, I couldn't stand watching you having to grow up with only one eye... so I gave you mine...I was so proud of my son that was seeing a whole new world for me, in my place, with
that eye. I was never upset at you for anything you did. The couple times that you were angry with me. I thought to myself, 'it's because he loves me.' I miss the times when you were still young around me. I miss you so much. I love you. You mean the world to me
My world shattered!!!
Then I cried for the person who lived for me... My MOTHER
A WONDERFUL MOTHER.
GOD made a wonderful mother,
A mother who never grows old;
He made her smile of the sunshine,
And He molded her heart of pure gold;
In her eyes He placed bright shining stars,
In her cheeks, fair roses you see;
God made a wonderful mother,
And He gave that dear mother to me.
LOVE HER AND RESPECT HER AND MOST IMPORTANTLY TELL HER |
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