On a boring Sunday afternoon as I was going through a magazine lying on the table, I encountered
a beautiful story which I wanted to share. It was the tale of a ‘MOTHER’ who also is the main character of the piece. The writer has taken the pain of designing her in such a way that she portrays the traits of the mothers that we have in our house who toil day and night to fulfil our requirements without uttering a word of complain. The anecdote goes this way…..
This story begins when I was a child. I was born poor. Often we hadn’t enough to eat. Whenever we had some food, Mother often gave me her portion of rice. While she was transferring her rice into my bowl, she would say “Eat this rice son, I am not hungry.”
This was my Mother’s First lie.
As I grew mother gave up her spare time to fish in a river near our house; she hoped that from the fish she caught, she could give me a little more nutritious food for my growth. Once she had caught just two fish, she would make fish soup. While I was eating the food, Mother would sit beside me and eat what was still left on the bone of the fish that I had eaten. My heart was touched when I saw it. Once I gave the other fish to her on my chopstick but she immediately refused it and said, “Eat this fish son, I don’t really like fish.”
This was my Mother’s Second lie.
Then in order to fund my education, Mother went to a match factory to bring home some matchboxes, which she filled with fresh matchsticks. This helped her get some money to cover out needs. One wintry night I awoke to find Mother filling the matchboxes by candlelight. So I said, “Mother, go to sleep, it’s late. You can continue working tomorrow morning. “Mother smiled and said, “Go to sleep, son! I am not tired”
This was my Mother’s Third lie.
When I had to sit for my final examination, Mother accompanied me. After dawn, Mother waited for me for hours in the heat of the sun. When the bell rang, I ran to meet her. Mother embraced me and poured me a glass of tea that she had prepared in a thermos. The tea was not as strong as my Mother’s love. Seeing Mother covered with perspiration, I at once gave her my glass and asked her to drink too. Mother said, “Drink son, I’m not thirsty!”
This was Mother’s Fourth lie
After father’s death, Mother had to play the role of a single parent. She held on to her former job; she had to fund our needs alone. Our family’s life was more complicated. We suffered from starvation. Seeing my family’s condition worsening, my kind uncle who lived near my house came to help us solve our problems- big and small. Our other neighbors saw that we were poverty stricken so they often advised my mother to marry again. But Mother refused to remarry saying “I don’t need love.”
This was Mother’s Fifth lie.
After I had finished my studies and gotten a job, it was time for my old mother to retire but she carried on going to the market every morning to sell a few vegetables. I kept sending her money but she was steadfast and even sent the money back to me. She said, “I have enough money”
This was Mother’s Sixth lie.
I continued my part-time studies for my Master’s degree. Funded the American Company for which I worked, I succeeded in my studies. With a big jump in my salary, I decided to bring Mother to enjoy life in America but Mother didn’t want to bother her son; and said to me, “I am not used to high living.”
This was Mother’s Seventh lie.
In her dotage, Mother was attacked by cancer and had to be hospitalized. Now living far across the ocean, I went to visit Mother who was bedridden after an operation. Mother said, “Don’t cry son I am not in pain.”
That was Mother’s eight lie.
Telling me this, her eight lie she died.
YES, MOTHER WAS AN ANGEL! M-O-T-H-E-R
“M” IS FOR THE MILLION THINGS SHE GAVE ME,
“O” IS FOR ONLY THAT SHE’S GROWING OLD,
“T” IS FOR THE TEARS SHE SHED TO SAVE ME,
“H” IS FOR THE HEART OF GOLD,
“E” IS FOR THE EYES WITH LOVE-LIGHT SHINING IN THEM,
“R” MEANS RIGHT, AND RIGHT SHE’LL ALWAYS BE.
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