Taking care of old parents is happiness

Parents used to work hard to earn money to raise their children, take care of them from meals to sleep, hoping that their children would grow up healthy, mature, and have a full life. When they are old, even if parents do not expect anything from their children, as children, at least bring them small joys from caring, because each day that passes means the time we have with our parents is shorter...

Living with children, still have to eat boxed lunch

At the age of over 70, Mr. Nguyen Hieu (District 1, Ho Chi Minh City) wanders out to the alley on Cong Quynh Street every noon to buy lunch boxes to take home. On cool days, he sits at street stalls, finishes his plate of rice and then goes home. Eating at a restaurant has a street atmosphere, different from eating alone in the cold kitchen at home, which is also nice.

Mr. Hieu has been raising his two sons alone since his wife unfortunately passed away in a traffic accident. Now both of his children are grown up, one of them is working abroad. He lives with his youngest son who is married and both of them have stable jobs with the company.

Every morning, his son or daughter-in-law buys him a package of sticky rice, a loaf of bread, a box of rice cakes, etc. for breakfast, then leaves until dark. As a result, even with his son and daughter-in-law, Mr. Hieu still has to eat boxed lunch and dinner every day. “Eating is necessary but not too important. I think the most important thing at this age is the care of relatives or having someone to keep him company,” Mr. Hieu said.

However, he also understood the burden of youth on his son's shoulders, both working and taking care of a small family with so many worries and pressures. So he did not ask anything from his son, as long as they had jobs and a stable life, he was happy.

Instructions for parents to use electronic devices to read daily news. Photo: DUNG PHUONG

Mr. Hieu hopes that God will bless him with enough health to take care of himself until he dies without having to bother his children and grandchildren, that would be good! Having said that, Mr. Hieu could not help but feel sad when he saw families with all their members gathered around a hot meal, eating and chatting animatedly.

My heart is far away

Ms. Tien (District 3, Ho Chi Minh City) got married and then bought a house in the city with her husband. Her family's economic life is relatively stable with a business at home, but unfortunately, due to the nature of her job, Ms. Tien cannot visit her elderly mother often. She always feels tormented by not being close to her mother, massaging her hands and feet when the weather changes; just a few questions and transfers cannot make her stop worrying about filial piety.

It would be easy to welcome her mother to stay, but her mother is a woman who has been attached to her hometown garden all year round, and when she comes to the strange city, she doesn't dare to go anywhere. That's why Tien's mother came the day before, but the next day she insisted on going home because she was sad. Meanwhile, she wanted to wait for the weekend when work was more free to take her mother here and there, to enjoy delicious food.

Fortunately, Ms. Tien's husband is a thoughtful person. He set up a garden of plants grown from Styrofoam boxes on the terrace. Then he asked his mother-in-law to instruct him on how to grow clean vegetables and how to make organic fertilizer for plants. Thanks to that, Ms. Tien's mother no longer felt sad and had too many hands and feet, so she stayed longer. At that time, Ms. Tien had the opportunity to be close to her mother, whispering to her about many things, and the whole family had cozy meals with clean, healthy vegetables.

Ms. Minh Tuyen (living in Canada) was not as lucky as Ms. Tien to welcome her mother to her home. Ms. Tuyen's mother cannot take a long flight, so the only way to be close to her mother is to return to Vietnam. Every year, she tries to arrange to return once. Every time she calculates her mother's age, she feels a pang of pain, wondering how many more times she will be able to see her mother.

A monk at the temple she often visited advised her that living a happy life was already a way to show filial piety. Because that is what parents want for their children, not necessarily being close to their children or receiving luxurious material gifts… That advice made her feel a little better.

In the yoga class I am attending, everyone knows about the filial example of Ms. Mai (Binh Thanh District). Ms. Mai is over 60 years old, living with her 85-year-old mother. She said that her daily job is to take care of her old mother. From cooking, bathing, making milk, chatting to watching movies together... every day is the same. When her mother is healthy enough, she rents a car for the two of them to go on a beach trip for a few days.

She said, the longest time she was away from her mother was one hour of yoga every day, and the rest of the time she was always by her mother's side. Elderly people walk awkwardly, are afraid of falling or suddenly falling ill, so they always need someone to be by their side. Fortunately, Mai lives alone, so when she retires, she has nothing to worry about, and she can wholeheartedly devote her time to taking care of her elderly mother. That is also her blessing. Because many people are not lucky enough to be close to their parents, and when their parents pass away, they torment themselves with late regrets.

Every family has its own circumstances and I believe that any grown child can do the simple but necessary thing of taking care of their parents' meals, visiting them, and arranging as much time as possible to eat family meals with them when they still have the chance.

LIGHT

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/duoc-cham-soc-cha-me-gia-la-hanh-phuc-post761230.html