30 December, 2011

The Silent Sacrifice....


Inderjeet’s mother had one only eye. He hated her… She was such an embarrassment for him . She cooked for students and teachers to support the family.

There was this one day during elementary school where his mother came to say hello to him. He was so embarrassed.

Inderjeet thought - How could she do this to him? He ignored her, threw her a hateful look and ran out. The next day at school one of his classmates said, ‘EEEE, your mother has only one eye!’

Inderjeet wanted to bury himself after listening to that comment. He also wanted his mother to just disappear. He confronted her that day and said, ‘If she was only going to make a laughing stock out of him, then why don’t she just die?’

His mother did not respond… he didn’t even stop to think for a second about what he had said, because he was full of anger. He was oblivious to her feelings.

He wanted to leave that house, and had nothing to do with her. So he studied real hard and got a chance to go abroad to study.

Then, he got married. He bought a house of his own. He had kids of his own. He was happy with his life, his kids and the comforts. Then one day, his Mother came to visit him. She hadn’t seen him in years and she didn’t even meet her grandchildren.

When she stood by the door, his children laughed at her, and Inderjeet yelled at her for coming over uninvited. He screamed at her, ‘How dare you come to my house and scare my children!’ GET OUT OF HERE! NOW!!!’

And to this, his mother quietly answered, ‘Oh, I’m so sorry. I may have gotten the wrong address,’ and she disappeared out of sight.

One day, a letter regarding a school reunion came to Inderjeet’s house. So he lied to my wife that he was going on a business trip. After the reunion, he went to the old shack just out of curiosity.

His neighbours told him that she had died. He did not shed a single tear. They handed Inderjeet a letter that his mother had wanted him to have.

After reading the letter Inderjeet’s eyes overflowed with continuous tears – His mother had penned:-

‘My dearest son,

I think of you all the time. I’m sorry that I came to your house and scared your children.

I was so glad when I heard you were coming for the reunion. But I may not be able to even get out of bed to see you. I’m sorry that I was a constant embarrassment to you when you were growing up.

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 one eye. So I gave you mine.

I was so proud of my son who was seeing a whole new world for me, in my place, with that eye.

With all my love to you,

Your mother.’

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