Interestingly, i saw this program on Astro Wah Lai Toi named Parents' Heart. The program is a short 30 minutes session that features stories of parents in Malaysia. What touched me was a story told by a dad who got married very early just went he turned 20 years old. In order to sustain the life of his newly married wife and the birth of his daughter, he had to go to Taiwan to work for about 2 years before he came back to KL and took up 2 jobs simultaneously in order to survive. At the age of 40, he is now a proud grandfather. Below was a story that he told the interviewer on how he had failed his son one day.
It was a clear night and the house was having a BBQ session with all the cousins. It was 9pm at night when the father told his son to go take a shower. The son gave a brief nod but continued his fun with his cousins in the BBQ party.
The second time when the father told the son to take a shower, it was already 10pm, an hour passed. The son nodded again but did not act on it. Anger was building in the father's heart.
The clock turned 11pm and just went the father wanted to remind the son again, the son quickly ran into the bathroom and shut the door. Finally taking his shower, thought the father. After a few minutes, the father realized there wasn't any water splashing sound from the bathroom and then he saw his son opened the bathroom door and was running towards the BBQ area.
This time around the father was so mad that without giving any warning, he moved up to his son and gave his a tight slap in the face. The son fell to the ground, looked at the father in disbelieved, moved to his feet and then sat silently on the sofa without a word. His face was red with a mark of the slap but he did not shed a tear.
And then the mother moved into the picture. She pulled the father aside and said to him.
"Do you know why he ran out from the bathroom so quickly? He was having diarrhea the whole night. It was in the bathroom that he suddenly remembered he was bbq-ing some chicken wings for you. And the wings were getting burned! That was why he came out and ran towards the BBQ area! What have you done? Why cant you asked before you acted in anger?"
By now the father was stunned and nothing but silent came from his mouth. He told the interviewer that it was because of this incident that had made him realized how judgmental he was and how he had failed his son.
The scene then cut to the interview with the son on this issue. The son said that when the father slapped him, he had a brief moment of dizziness. He was angry with his father until in the middle of the night, he father silently came into his room and carefully applied cream on his face. The son was not asleep then but he was so angry that he pretended to be asleep. What had made his heart melted and forgive his father was when his father was applying the medicine for him, he heard his father weeping silently as well.
It was this incident that has lead the father to treat the son like a friend after that. At the end of the interview, the son said this with a huge smile on his face " i think i am very fortunate and lucky to be in my family. I am blessed."
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