THE ENRAGING ENQUIRY
A young man was sitting in front of his house, reading the news paper.
His father, a very old man was seated nearby, looking at the garden. He had
started to lose his memory and the abilities of sight and hearing. Suddenly a
bird arrived and sat on a short tree. The father asked, "Son, what is
that?" The son looked at it and replied, "It is a crow." The
father repeated his question, "What is that?" The son thought that
his father had not heard his answer and so repeated, in a louder tone, "It
is a crow!"
The old man repeated the same question again. The son frowned angrily.
He repeated his answer, more loudly. Then the father asked again, "What is
that?" The young man shouted at the top of his voice, "Can't you
understand? How many times I have told you? It is only a crow!" With these
words, the furious son rose from his chair, threw the paper to the ground
violently and rushed into the house in an uncontrollable rage. The old man sat
there for some more time and returned to his room with shaking legs. He opened
his old trunk and found out his old diary where he used to record every
incident of his life. He slowly turned the pages and reached the page which
recounted the day when he celebrated the third birthday of his son. He stared
at the page and tears rolled down his wrinkled
cheeks. He sat in that posture for a long time. Later, when his son came in
search of him, he saw the open diary and his father in a pensive mood. Out of
curiosity, he read the open page of the old diary. It read thus: "Today we
celebrated the third birthday of my dear son. After the noon meals, I sat in
the courtyard with my son in my lap. Suddenly a crow flew in and sat near us. My
son asked me eagerly, "What is that, Daddy?" I answered him, "It
is a crow, my dear." He repeated the question at least twenty times and
every time I gave the same answer, hugging him tightly every time I answered
his innocent query. His repeated enquiries did not anger me. It made me love
him more and more. It gave me satisfaction and joy to be able to answer his
innocent enquiries again and again."
Reading this account of his own innocent
inquiries and the patient and affectionate replies and reactions of his father,
the young man felt ashamed of his ruthless reaction to his father's questions.
He knelt down at his father's legs and cried in deep sorrow, begging his pardon
again and again.
All religions teach us to respect and love our parents. Innocent inquiries,
comments, directions, remarks or requests of our aged parents should not
infuriate us.
The Holy Quran teaches us, " Your Lord has decreed: Do not worship
any but Him; Be kind to your parents; and should both or any one of them attain
old age in your life, do not say to them a word of contempt, nor repel them,
but speak to them with respect and be humble and tender to them and say,
"Lord, show mercy to them as they nurtured me when I was small" {Holy
Quran, Chapter 17 (AL-ISRA) verses
23-24}.
The
'Taittiriya Upanishad', a Sacred Hindu Scripture,
teaches, "Matru devo Bhava, Pitru
devo Bhava, Acharya devo Bhava, Atithi devo Bhava" advocating to
honour one's mother, father, teacher and guest as God. This is repeated in the popular
axiom in Indian culture, "Matha,
Pitha, Guru Deivam." which urges a child to treat his mother, father
and teacher as equal to God and give due respect and reverence to the three
persons who lead us to God.
The Old Testament of the Bible prescribes
the following in the ten commandments of God, "Respect your father and
your mother, so that you may live a long time in the land that I am giving you"
{Exodus 20: 12; Deuteronomy 5: 16}. St. Paul advises, "Children, it is your
Christian duty to obey your parents, for this is the right thing to do.
"Respect your father and mother' is the first commandment that has a
promise added: 'so that all may go well with you, and you may live a long time
in the land" {Ephesians 6: 1-3}.
The Book of proverbs advises, "It is better to be patient than
powerful. It is better to win control over yourself than over whole
cities" {Proverbs 16: 32}. "Listen to your father; without him you
would not exist. When your mother is old, show her your appreciation"
{Proverbs 23: 22}.
............................................................................................................
© By: Dr. Babu Philip, Professor, Cochin University of Science
& Technology, Fine Arts Avenue, Kochi-682016, Kerala, India, Prof.
Mrs. Rajamma Babu, Former Professor, St. Dominic's College, Kanjirappally and
Leo. S. John, Maniparambil, Ooriyakunnath, Kunnumbhagom, Kanjirappally,
Kottayam-686507, Kerala, India.
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