Value of Parents.

Parents


This was narrated by an IAF pilot to IIT students during a Seminar on Human
Relations:

Venkatesh Balasubramaniam (who works for IIT) describes how his gesture of
booking an air ticket for his father, his maiden flight, brought forth a
rush of emotions and made him (Venkatesh) realize that how much we all take
for granted when it comes to our parents.

My parents left for our native place on Thursday and we went to the airport
to see them off. In fact, my father had never traveled by air before, so I
just took this opportunity to make him experience the same. In spite of
being asked to book tickets by train, I got them tickets on Jet Airways. The
moment I handed over the tickets to him, he was surprised to see that I had
booked them by air.. The excitement was very apparent on his face, waiting
for the time of travel. Just like a school boy, he was preparing himself on
that day and we all went to the airport, right from using the trolley for
his luggage, the baggage check-in and asking for a window seat and waiting
restlessly for the security check-in to happen. He was thoroughly enjoying
himself and I, too, was overcome with joy watching him experience all these
things.

As they were about to go in for the security check-in, he walked up to me
with tears in his eyes and thanked me. He became very emotional and it was
not as if I had done something great but the fact that this meant a great
deal to him. When he said thanks, I told him there was no need to thank me.
But later, thinking about the entire incident, I looked back at my life. As
a child, how many dreams our parents have made come true.

Without understanding the financial situation, we ask for cricket bats,
dresses, toys, outings, etc. Irrespective of their affordability, they have
catered to all our needs. Did we ever think about the sacrifices they had to
make to accommodate many of our wishes? Did we ever say thanks for all that
they have done for us? Same way, today when it comes to our children, we
always think that we should put them in a good school. Regardless of the
amount of donation, we will ensure that we will have to give the child the
best, theme parks, toys, etc. But we tend to forget that our parents have
sacrificed a lot for our sake to see us happy, so it is our responsibility
to ensure that their dreams are realized and what they failed to see when
they were young. It is our responsibility to ensure that they experience all
those and their life is complete.

Many times, when my parents had asked me some questions, I have actually
answered back without patience. When my daughter asks me something, I have
been very polite in answering. Now I realize how they would have felt at
those moments. Let us realize that old age is a second childhood and just as
we take care of our children, the same attention and same care needs to be
given to our parents and elders. Rather than my dad saying thank you to me,
I would want to say sorry for making him wait so long for this small dream.
I do realize how much he has sacrificed for my sake and I will do my best to
give the best possible attention to all their wishes.

Just because they are old does not mean that they will have to give up
everything and keep sacrificing for their grandchildren also. They have
wishes, too..

Take care of your parents. THEY ARE PRECIOUS.
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One of the basic differences between God and human is, God gives, gives
and forgives. But human gets, gets, gets and forgets. Be thankful in life!