Follow the journey of a young boy of a three-generation household, as he sees first hand the importance of respecting, honouring, and loving his parents, through the best and the worst of times. What truly captured my heart is the line, “How one generation loves, the next generation learns.” There couldn’t be more true to that line; I learn respect, unconditional love and acceptance from watching how my parents treat their parents.
My grandmother taught me a valuable lesson in Patience, Unconditional Love and Acceptance recently. She was admitted in the hospital for more than two weeks. For the two weeks, we took turns to take care of her during the day so that the caregiver could take a rest at home and be back in the evening to take care of her through the night.
Initially for the first 3 nights she was very restless and hallucinating; seeing things and people around her and making noises. There was really nothing much we could do, except to try to calm her down in different ways.
Fortunately she got much better and her mind much clearer after the third day; she could recognise us. However, she was still eating very little and getting weaker. We tried buying her some of her favorite food and cooking what she requested but she was still not eating. The doctor was telling us if she continued to refuse to eat, they would have to feed her by inserting a tube through her nostril down the throat and into her stomach. We were all at a lost and didn’t know what to do except to hope that she would start eating.
Then miraculously she started eating more and more. Soon she regained her strength back. My grandmother is a very strong-willed lady who always want to win. Thus the first thing when she got back her strength, she wanted to go home; the hospital couldn’t discharge her as they were monitoring her blood sugar level (which has been high) as well as her hemoglobin (which has been low). We had to try all ways to pacify her to stay in hospital.
The good news is, she was discharged from the hospital yesterday.
Today, I would like to leave you with the beautiful and charming voice of Rachael Yamagata. It was through a friend’s sharing in her profile in Facebook when I first encountered Rachael Yamagata’s song; I fell in love with her voice. When I was exploring her other songs in Youtube and I came across one of her other songs ‘I Wish You Love.’ This is exactly the wish I have for you this weekend: I wish you love!
May this weekend fills you with loving thoughts from people around you and within yourself. May people around you speak to you with loving words and you reciprocate with words of love to them. May you also experience the loving deeds from people around you and you reciprocate with loving deeds to them. A fellow blogger, Megan, commented once, “I believe that in our lives, we are either vibrating with the energy of love, or we are not.”
Thus, I wish for all of us to be filled with loving thoughts, words, and actions for others and for ourselves.
I Wish You Love by Rachael Yamagata
Lyrics of I Wish You Love
I wish you bluebirds in the spring
To give your heart a song to sing
And then a kiss, but more than this
I wish you love
And in July a lemonade
To cool you in some leafy glade
I wish you health
And more than wealth
I wish you love
My breaking heart and I agree
That you and I could never be
So with my best
My very best
I set you free
I wish you shelter from the storm
A cozy fire to keep you warm
But most of all when snowflakes fall
I wish you love
My breaking heart and I agree
That you and I could never be
So with my best
My very best
I set you free
I wish you shelter from the storm
A cozy fire to keep you warm
But most of all when snowflakes fall
I wish you love
But most of all when snowflakes fall
I wish you love.
“No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.” - Nelson Mandela
How true isn’t it? Nelson Mandela certainly was right when he said ‘… love comes naturally to the human heart …’ A child knows no hatred or how to hate and yet he/she instinctively feels the love and care shower by parents. A child generally do not differentiate statue too; a child may be shy and uncomfortable with strangers initially, but if the strangers treat the child lovingly and kindly, he/she will eventually warm up to strangers.
Most adults on the other hand have the ability, through learned experience, to differentiate people who are genuinely sincere and good from those who are not. This is one of the reasons, and a valid one, why parents find it necessary to protect baby from people who are not genuinely sincere and good.
In the process of growing up, the child will see, hear and pick up hatred we show to others along the way. We too had unconsciously learnt to hate from our parents and people around us; not that they wanted to teach us to hate on purpose, but through their words and actions, we imitated them until at such time that their words and actions become part of ours too. We eventually ‘pass’ these words and actions to our children. This is a vicious cycle that will stop only by consciously teaching our children to love people from the heart.
However, in order for us to be fitting to teach our children to love, we must first learn to love like them. Did I just contradicted myself? It makes sense actually. We need to first learn to love people indiscriminately and with an open heart from them. Then we lead by example to love people indiscriminately and with an open heart. A challenging thing to do but so is anything worth fighting for.
Through conscious teaching of ourselves and our young ones to love, I believe that one day most, if not all, of us will be loving people.
How do you think we can work towards teaching people to love?
Since Thanksgiving is just a few days away. I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. Let us remember to give thanks and to express our gratitudes to our family and friends. As Ella Wheeler Wilcox said,
“…blessings are like friends, I hold, who love and labor near us. We ought to raise our notes of praise while living hearts can hear us.”
It certainly makes more sense for us to give sincere appreciation to our family and friends while they are still around. Life can be really fragile and we are not always guaranteed of tomorrow. There is little room for regrets in life and we must generously lavish our family and friends with gratitude and thanks throughout the year. And perhaps, along the way, we can also reach out a helping hand to others who are in need too.
Besides expressing our gratitudes for our family and friends, we must also give thanks to the environment which has been providing unconditionally for us. And what would be a better way to give thanks to our environment than to protect it.
What are you thankful for this year? What would you be doing this Thanksgiving? Would you be doing anything special this year? Although I am not observing Thanksgiving here, it would be great to share your joy. Wishing you a Bless and Happy Thanksgiving week!
Thanksgiving by Edgar Albert Guest
Gettin’ together to smile an’ rejoice,
An’ eatin’ an’ laughin’ with folks of your choice;
An’ kissin’ the girls an’ declarin’ that they
Are growin’ more beautiful day after day;
Chattin’ an’ braggin’ a bit with the men,
Buildin’ the old family circle again;
Livin’ the wholesome an’ old-fashioned cheer,
Just for awhile at the end of the year.
Greetings fly fast as we crowd through the door
And under the old roof we gather once more
Just as we did when the youngsters were small;
Mother’s a little bit grayer, that’s all.
Father’s a little bit older, but still
Ready to romp an’ to laugh with a will.
Here we are back at the table again
Tellin’ our stories as women an’ men.
Bowed are our heads for a moment in prayer;
Oh, but we’re grateful an’ glad to be there.
Home from the east land an’ home from the west,
Home with the folks that are dearest an’ best.
Out of the sham of the cities afar
We’ve come for a time to be just what we are.
Here we can talk of ourselves an’ be frank,
Forgettin’ position an’ station an’ rank.
Give me the end of the year an’ its fun
When most of the plannin’ an’ toilin’ is done;
Bring all the wanderers home to the nest,
Let me sit down with the ones I love best,
Hear the old voices still ringin’ with song,
See the old faces unblemished by wrong,
See the old table with all of its chairs
An’ I’ll put soul in my Thanksgivin’ prayers.
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Today, I would like to leave you with the beautiful and charming voice of Rachael Yamagata. It was through a friend’s sharing in her profile in Facebook when I first encountered Rachael Yamagata’s song; I fell in love with her voice. When I was exploring her other songs in Youtube and I came across one of her other songs ‘I Wish You Love.’ This is exactly the wish I have for you this weekend: I wish you love!
