Life-Lesson

A Lesson You Will Never Forget

It made me value the most important relationship in life.

An incident changed my perspective towards the most important relationship in my life; that with my parents.

It was another day, I packed my bag hastily and left for my tuition class, only this was the first time I was sitting beside my tutor’s 5-year-old daughter and solving my assignment when she looked up to me and said: “I miss papa”.

I was listening to her sub-consciously as she kept repeating the phrase “I miss papa”, assuming she is waiting for him to come back from work. After a few moments, my tutor came back to take an update on my work when I asked her about why is her daughter repeating the phrase.

She looked into my eyes, with a lost stare and a heavy voice barely spoke the words “Her father is dead”.

I was at a loss of words and overwhelmed with emotions, just when the little girl came up to me and asked: “Have you seen him in the park?”.

I was confused.

My tutor proceeded to tell me that her husband had died in a car accident along with his sister, and her daughter was very young to process any of that so she was told they have gone to the park.

“She still waits for them to come back, but returns to bed disappointed at times”. She stated she will explain the true meaning of death when her daughter has grown up, only if there was a time to explain and accept death.

I finished off my assignment with a heavy heart and proceeded to walk back towards my home.

The journey home was particularly retrospective, it was the first time I looked at my relationship with my parents with an overwhelming feeling of love, with an underlying feeling of guilt for the times I had been more than unfair to them.

That’s when it hit me:

“If God has blessed you with parents, he will also take them away from you.”

Love your parents, hug them, call upon them, connect with them. We will miss them and the value they bought once they are gone.