Saturday, May 8, 2010

Treasure Parents' Sacrifices

This evening I was invited to say prayers for Jezreel & Abigail's birthday at Pullman Hotel, Kuching. I sat next to a Chinese guy who happens to be a Ph D holder from UK. Sitting on my right were my friends Freddy Sullang and Joseph Sinayun. Freddy attended St. John's Church, Sibu when I was serving as a priest there. From then on, friendship developed. I have not met him for quite a while now. And Joseph goes to St. Faith's Church, Kenyalang, a church I served for some 15 years. I still see him from time to time. It was good catching up with them, and their wives and kids; the little cute Michele particularly.

Anyway, coming back to this new friend I met and talked to. His name is Dr. Lau, married with 3 kids. The youngest was probably about 4 years old, and he teased me a lot! I enjoyed that. Dr. Lau, who hails from Johor in West Malaysia, is an engineer by profession. He used to work in KL for 7 years, and he didn't like the lifestyle there. He enjoys Kuching better. He was telling me about his family particularly his father who sacrificed a lot for the sake of his 10 children. I was told all of them have good education. Dr. Lau remembers well as a kid, one apple had to be divided into 4 slices in order that every one had the chance to have a bit! That was life for them then, having had to learn to share things. His father lived simply, eating simple food. The family had a rubber garden which eventually the trees had to be cut down to make way for oil palm. Dr Lau had to tap the rubber, which reminds me of my childhood days, when my brother and I had to tap rubber in order to fetch some pocket money to go to school! Those were the days.

What did I learn from the meeting with Dr. Lau? I learned about parents' sacrifice. Can you imagine having to feed 10 hungry mouths daily? We should learn about sacrifice and contentment. Appreciate and treasure our parents' contributions.

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