Father's day

By Bob Yong
15th June 2008

On mother’s day, I wrote a story on how we took our mothers for granted. We only realized we missed them when they were no longer with us.

On this father’s day, I have another story to tell.
This story was repeatedly told to me by my father when I was young.

“There was a grand-father, a father and a son living in a remote part of China. They were poor farmers having little or no formal education at all. But being brought up in a traditional way, they knew about Chinese value such as filial piety, a culture which was passed down from generations to generations.

The grand-father being old was invalid and must be dutifully looked after and this caused financial problems and difficulties to the father and son.

One day the father told the son that the grand-father must be put away in the jungle. The son said nothing. The father put the grand-father in a basket and with the help of the son carried the grand-father to a place far away from home and left him to die.

The father wanted to dump the grand-father together with the basket and the pole which was used to carry the basket with the grand-father in it. The son said the basket and the pole needed to be taken back home. Father wanted to know why. The son explained that the basket and the pole can be reused when it is time for him and his son to carry the father (who will then become an invalid grand-father) to the same place as they just did.”

On Father’s day, have you ever thought of these:-
1) Most fathers are stubborn and won’t ask anyone for help. Getting lost while driving to a destination is not uncommon. Perhaps buying him a GPS unit may help.
2) Since the fuel price hike, filling up the petrol tank of your father’s car is also a good idea.

Remember this. Regardless of your relationship with your father, you’ll miss him when he is gone from your life.