Parents are Precious

This was narrated by an IAF pilot to IIT students during a Seminar onHumanRelations:

Venkatesh Balasubramaniam (who works for IIT) describes how his gestureofbooking an air ticket for his father, his maiden flight, brought forth a rush of emotions and made him (Venkatesh) realize that how much we alltakefor granted when it comes to our parents.
My parents left for our native place on Thursday and we went to theairportto see them off. In fact, my father had never traveled by air before, so Ijust took this opportunity to make him experience the same. In spite ofbeing asked to book tickets by train, I got them tickets on Jet Airways.The moment I handed over the tickets to him, he was surprised to see that Ihad booked them by air. The excitement was very apparent on his face,waiting for the time of travel.Just like a school boy, he was preparing himself on that day and we allwent to the airport, right from using the trolley for his luggage, the baggage check-in and asking for a window seat and waiting restlessly forthe security check-in to happen. He was thoroughly enjoying himself andI,too, was overcome with joy watching him experience all these things.

As they were about to go in for the security check-in, he walkedupto me with tears in his eyes and thanked me. He became very emotionalandit was not as if I had done something great but the fact that this meant agreat deal to him. When he said thanks, I told him there was no need to thank me.Butlater, thinking about the entire incident, I looked back at my life. Asachild, how many dreams our parents have made come true. Without understanding the financial situation, we ask for cricket bats, dresses,toys, outings, etc. Irrespective of their affordability, they havecateredto all our needs. Did we ever think about the sacrifices they had to maketo accommodate many of our wishes? Did we ever say thanks for all thattheyhave done for us? Same way, today when it comes to our children, wealwaysthink that we should put them in a good school. Regardless of the amount ofdonation, we will ensure that we will have to give the child the best,theme parks, toys, etc. But we tend to forget that our parents havesacrificed a lot for our sake to see us happy, so it is ourresponsibility to ensure that their dreams are realized and what they failed to seewhenthey were young. It is our responsibility to ensure that they experienceall those and their life is complete. Many times, when my parents had asked me some questions, I have actually answered back without patience. When my daughter asks mesomething, I have been very polite in answering. Now I realize how theywould have felt at those moments.Let us realize that old age is a second childhood and just as we take careof our children, the same attention and same care needs to be given toourparents and elders. Rather than my dad saying thank you to me, I wouldwantto say sorry for making him wait soLong for this small dream. I do realize how much he has sacrificed for mySake and I will do my best to give the best possible attention to alltheirwishes.Just because they are old does not mean that they will have to give upeverything and keep sacrificing for their grandchildren also.

They have wishes, too.Take care of your parents.

THEY ARE PRECIOUS.- KEEP THIS MESSAGE GOING BY SENDING IT TO YOUR FRIENDS"The voice of parents is the voice of gods, for to their children they areheaven's lieutenants." - Shakespeare"A mother is a person who seeing there are only four pieces of pie forfivepeople, promptly announces she never did care for pie" -- Tenneva Jordan

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