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Receiving a brief meesage: “Family was in trouble, go home urgently”, he first sulked about his father’s message. What was urgent at that time? How could the father do that while his son was busy with preparation for final subject examination?
He lay with hand on the forehead, thinking about his final subject examination next morning and next evening birthday of a girl who he was flirting. It was silly to ignore such a chance. He tried to reassure himself that there would be no problem if he took a early morning coach home after attending the birthday party. It was such a more 100 km distance. Not too far. His mother probably missed him too much and asked his father to send her son the message. Keeping thinking that way, he slept without worries.
The examination was over. The birthday party also finished. He came home. Arriving at the front yard, he felt a strange environment. His pet dog, Bin, didn’t even bother to bark to him like before. It cursorily wagged his tail, creeping into corner of the house, curling himself sadly. “Why did you come back so late? Your parents were in your grandmother’ house. Everybody has been waiting for you very much” reproached Mrs. Nam, a neighbour, when meeting him.
“Why were there a lot of people at the grandmother’s house?” wondered himself. Seeing him from far distance, his mother bursted into tears: “Tuyen has already come back, mother!!!”. His face darkened.
Salty tearsstarted to his eyes. His mother held him tightly in her weak hands. She looked very pale and her eyes swole up. There sat his father, next to Huong, his younger sister. His mother said in tears: “Feelingclose coming steps of The Death, the grandmother desired to meet you but she restrained herself and didn’t let your father to inform you. She was afraid that you would be shocked and your studying would be badly affected”. Heart of a 19-year-old-student felt a stinging pain as being under an electric shock. Then he exhaustedly fell down. How could he, the most beloved grandchild of the grandmother, behave so heartlessly!
When he entered a university, his grandmother’s back was so bent that she could not sit to sew a conical hat as before. The night before his departure, the grandmother had visited his house, daring not to sleep because she was afraid of missing minute of saying goodbye to her beloved grandchild. Before he steped on the coach, she had slipped two 10.000- VND notes into his hands. “I don’t want it. Please keep it for yourself to buynosh, Grandmother!” grimaced him. At his head shake, she begged consistenly: “Please take at least one note to buydrinking-water on the way there! Please do it for my sake of happiness!”. He reluctantly took the 10.000-VND note, stuffing it hurriedly into his pants’ pocket and then departed.
The grandmother had led a whole poor life. When her days were numbered, she didn’t want to bother anybody, even her children. She had been living alone. His parents implored her for living together under same roof to conviniently take care of her more than one time. “I’m old. I prefer to live alone” excused her. The grandmother passed away. Sudently, he felt an emptiness and misery in his heart. He strongly felt pain of loosing a beloved relative.
He is actually Me. Our young people now have many things to excuse for our indifference. We often philosophize that the life is ours. We have the right to live and take responsibilities for life as our wish. Moutain of excuses and if we want, we will make up more. However, a philosophy, in spite of its seemingly trivialism and unconvincingness, is meaningful: “Our life actually belongs to us only when it has appearance of our beloved and must beloved people”.
We are conscious of that philosophy only when we loose our beloved ones. But it’s usually too late to regret. Like me. You will never become poor when you love someone but you are actually richer and richer. Please love your beloved relatives!
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