Part 2: Story of “A son & motherâ€
Here is the story which was forwarded by my younger son Ali Mashraf:Sam’s mom only had one eye. He hated her; she was such an embarrassment for him. His mom ran a small shop at a flea market. She collected little weeds and such to sell, anything for the money they needed. One day during elementary school, it was field day, and his mom came. He was so embarrassed. “How could she do this to me?†He threw her a hateful look and ran out. The next day at school..."Your mom only has one eye?!" and they taunted him.
Sam wished that his mom would just disappear from this world so he said to his 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?" His mom did not respond. He felt a little bad, but at the same time, it felt good to think that he had said what he'd wanted to say all this time. Maybe it was because his mom hadn't punished him, but he didn't think that he had hurt her feelings very badly.
One night...he woke up, and went to the kitchen to get a glass of water. His mom was crying there, so quietly, as if she was afraid that she might wake her son. He took a look at her, and then turned away. Because of the thing he had said to her earlier, there was something pinching at him in the corner of his heart. Even so, he hated his mother who was crying out of her one eye. So he told himself that he would grow up and become successful, because he hated his one-eyed mom and their desperate poverty.
Then he studied really hard. He left his mother and came to Seoul and studied, and got accepted in the Seoul University with all the confidence he had. Then, he got married. He bought a house of his own. Then he had kids, too. Now he is living happily as a successful man. He likes it here because it's a place that doesn't remind him of his mom.
This happiness was getting bigger and bigger, when someone unexpected came to see him. "What?! Who's this?!"... It was his mother...Still with her one eye. It felt as if the whole sky was falling apart on him. His little girl ran away, scared of his mom's eye. And he asked her, "Who are you? I don't know you!!!" as if he tried to make that real. He screamed at her "How dare you come to my house and scare my daughter! Get out here now!" And to this, his mother quietly answered, "oh, I'm so sorry. I may have gotten the wrong address," and she disappeared. “Thank goodness... she doesn't recognize me!†He was quite relieved. He told himself that he wasn't going to care, or think about this for the rest of his life.
Then a wave of relief came upon him... one day, a letter regarding a school reunion came to his house. He lied to his wife saying that he was going on a business trip. After the reunion, he went down to the old shack, that he used to call a house...just out of curiosity there, he found his mother fallen on the cold ground. But he did not shed a single tear. She had a piece of paper in her hand.... it was a letter to his son.
“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.â€Sam's world shattered! Then he cried for the person who lived for him. His
Mother.That's the end of the story
“A son & motherâ€........
My dear students,
Thanks for reading
part 1 of this story more than 100 times. But reading & feeling is not everything. Take care of your mothers, to whom you are the world.....they are the most precious gifts from the Almighty.........
Love you always,
Ma'am