This is a story by Jai, it teaches not to ever look down on a person because of a physical challenge. Just love and keep loving.
My mom only had one eye. I hated her… she was such an
embarrassment. My mom ran a small shop at a flea
market. She collected little weeds and such to sell…
anything for the money we needed she was such an
embarrassment. There was this one day during
elementary school.
I remember that it was field day, and my mom came. I was
so embarrassed. How could she do this to me? I threw her
a hateful look and ran out. The next day at school… “Your
mom only has one eye?!” and they taunted me.
I wished that my mom would just disappear from this
world so I said to my mom, “Mom, why don’t you have the
other eye?! You’re only going to make me a
laughingstock. Why don’t you just die?” My mom did not
respond. I guess I felt a little bad, but at the same time, it
felt good to think that I had said what I’d wanted to say
all this time. Maybe it was because my mom hadn’t
punished me, but I didn’t think that I had hurt her feelings
very badly.
That night… I woke up, and went to the kitchen to get a
glass of water. My mom was crying there, so quietly, as if
she was afraid that she might wake me. I took a look at
her, and then turned away. Because of the thing I had said
to her earlier, there was something pinching at me in the
corner of my heart. Even so, I hated my mother who was
crying out of her one eye. So I told myself that I would
grow up and become successful, because I hated my one-
eyed mom and our desperate poverty.
Then I studied really hard. I left my mother and came to
Seoul and studied, and got accepted in the Seoul
University with all the confidence I had. Then, I got
married. I bought a house of my own. Then I had kids,
too. Now I’m living happily as a successful man. I like it
here because it’s a place that doesn’t remind me of my
mom.
This happiness was getting bigger and bigger, when
someone unexpected came to see me “What?! Who’s
this?!” It was my mother… Still with her one eye. It felt as
if the whole sky was falling apart on me. My little girl ran
away, scared of my mom’s eye.
And I asked her, “Who are you? I don’t know you!!” as if I
tried to make that real. I screamed at her “How dare you
come to my house and scare my daughter! Get out of here
now!!” And to this, my mother quietly answered, “oh, I’m
so sorry. I may have gotten the wrong address,” and she
disappeared. Thank goodness… she doesn’t recognize
me. I was quite relieved. I told myself that I wasn’t going
to care, or think about this for the rest of my life.
Then a wave of relief came upon me… one day, a letter
regarding a school reunion came to my house. I lied to
my wife saying that I was going on a business trip. After
the reunion, I went down to the old shack, that I used to
call a house…just out of curiosity there, I found my mother
fallen on the cold ground. But I did not shed a single tear.
She had a piece of paper in her hand…. it was a letter to
me.
She wrote:
"My son,
I think my life has been long enough now. And… I
won’t visit Seoul anymore… but would it be too
much to ask if I wanted you to come visit me once
in a while? I miss you so much. And I was so glad
when I heard you were coming for the reunion. But I
decided not to go to the school…. For you… I’m
sorry that I only have one eye, and I was an
embarrassment for you.
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 only one
eye… so I gave you mine… I was so proud of my son
that was seeing a whole new world for me, in my
place, with that eye. I was never upset at you for
anything you did. The couple times that you were
angry with me. I thought to myself, ‘it’s because he
loves me.’ I miss the times when you were still
young around me.
I miss you so much. I love you. You mean the world
to me"
My World Shattered. I hated the person who only lived for
me . I cried for My Mother, I didn’t know of any way that
will make up for my worst deeds…
No comments:
Post a Comment