Being Children - Filial Piety

My filial sentiment grows stronger especially after I become a father myself.

This is not suggesting that we are not filial or we cannot be filial without being parent ourselves.

Rather, it is much easier to identify with our parents after we live through our own parenthood experience.

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Last week, my younger child was admitted to the hospital for three days and my wife stayed with him throughout that three days.

I know she was tired because she didn't sleep well that three nights.

She could have chosen to ask the domestic helper to step in. She didn't. It is her motherhood obligation. She couldn't delegate to anyone else, husband included.

I know she was worried because the virus strain my boy caught led to two casualties earlier.

She could have dismissed the chance of such possibility because the virus strain are well known and well contained if detected earlier. She couldn't. Every risk however slim is a risk to her son.

I know she was at pain as she was still nursing her wrist.

She didn't complain. The sick boy needed the motherly comfort. She lifted him up and hugged him despite the pain.

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I record this not because she is my wife or she is the mother of my children.

It is because she is a mother.

That she is our mothers.

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Did you ever ask your parents how you were nursed and taken care of when you were sick as a baby or a young child?

You could have been told that you had fever for weeks; you had cough for month; you didn't sleep at nights; you cried non-stop; you might even have been admited to hospital (a very big deal in the past).

Reading in between the lines, you ought to learn the love and sacrifice they rendered to us unconditionally.

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October 7 was 重阳, the double nineth festival, a day we visit the graves of our ancestors to pay our respects (not a popular practice in SEA) and also a day for us to care for and appreciate the elderly (in Taiwan especially).

This year, I lost my paternal grandmother and maternal grandfather. They were ordinary persons and definitely had their own shortcoming. Yet as grandparents, they were superb to the grandchildren, especially me, the eldest.

It is fitting to recall 祭之丰不如养之薄, better to care for our loved one with however little means we have than offering abundant sacrifice after they passed away.

I cited this quote in my primary five's essay and I hope I walk the talk as well.