My mom only had one eye.
I hated her... she was such an embarrassment...
She cooked for students & teachers...to support the family.
There was this one day during elementary school 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?!?!" ...eeeee said a friend.
I wished my mom would just disappear from this world.
So I said to my mom, "Mom... Why don't you have the other eye?!
If you're only gonna make me a laughing stock, 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.
Then I studied real hard.
I left my mother and went to Singapore to study.
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...
What?! Who's this?!
It was my mother...Still with her one eye.
I felt as if the whole sky was falling apart on me.
Even my children ran away, scared of my mom's eye.
And I asked her, "Who are you?!" "I don't know you!!!" as if trying to make
that real.
I screamed at her, "How dare you come to my house and scare my children!"
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 out of sight.
Thank good ness... 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 in Singapore.
So, lying to my wife that I was going on a business trip, I went.
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.
"My son...
I think my life has been long enough now...
And... I wont visit Singapore 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...
And 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 mom, 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 of times that you were angry with me..
I thought to myself, 'It's because he loves me..'
My son... Oh, my son... "
This message has a very deep meaning and is passed to remind people of the
goodness they have enjoyed was because of others directly or indirectly.
Pause a moment and consider your life! Be thankful of what you have today
compared to many millions who do not live lives as you do.