Wednesday, May 13, 2009

BE PATIENT

A man came out of his home to admire his new truck. To his puzzlement, his three-year-old son was happily hammering dents into the shiny paint.

The man ran to his son, knocked him away, hammered the little boy's hands into pulp as punishment.

When the father calmed down, he rushed his son to the hospital. Although the doctor tried desperately to save the crushed bones, he finally had to amputate the fingers from both the boy's hands.

When the boy woke up from the surgery & saw his bandaged stubs, he innocently said, " Daddy, I'm sorry about your truck." Then he asked, "but when are my fingers going to grow back?"

The father went home & committed suicide.

Think about the story the next time u see someone spill milk at a dinner table or hear a baby crying. Think first before u lose your patience with someone u love.

Trucks can be repaired. Broken bones & hurt feelings often can't.

Too often we fail to recognize the difference between the person and the performance.

People make mistakes. We are allowed to make mistakes. But the actions we take while in a rage will haunt us forever.

Pause and ponder. Think before you act. Be patient. Understand & love.

Source: Unknown

6 comments:

Tiger said...

Hi MWS,
I'm sure your children are all grown up by now.
Ethan's 6 and Ewan's 3 next week.
It takes a ton of patience to deal with them.
I was brought up with the rod always hanging above me, and I believe that straightened me somewhat. My compromise with Elaine is that we'll try the talking method first before we use the cane only as a last resort.

Unknown said...

Hi Tiger,

:-) I am still in my 40's and wish that my children were all grown up now...

My older one is 20 and younger one is 10 so I have a long, long way to go.

I am a better mom now with my younger one than with my older one. Motherhood is like making pancakes. Mess up the first one and subsequent ones get better and better :-).

Having grown up in an austere environment ruled by the cane, I used the cane with my older one a lot and live to regret it till today. Thank goodness my older boy and I have a great relationship now and we love each other to bits but it was not a road paved with gold. But I learn my lesson.

With my younger one, we have only used the cane on him on five occasions in ten years - choosing to take the road of reasoning and withdrawal of privileges and believe me, that works better as he is confident, responsible and really very secure.

So, you and your wife are on the right track :-).

Take care and God be with you and your family.

cheers

Pill Pusher said...

Oh noo the question that boy asked almost made me weep

Thank you for sharing
beautiful post

Unknown said...

You are welcome, Dr. Tranquility.

The innocence of children is most precocious and reminds me all the time, to be more human - to give more and to expect less.

Take care.

uncle james said...

Hi MWS,

Your post brought back sad memories...

When my son was 2 years old, out of curiosity or plain playfulness, he pulled away his mummy chair just as my wife was about to sit down.My wife fell like a ton of bricks and hurt so badly.

Out of anger, i slapped my son so hard he fell backwards.He was stunned for so long and yet i carried on slapping him all over hus body. Then he cried...but so softly.

That night i cried myself to sleep and swear NEVER to beat him again.

Today he is 15 years old and we are a loving "couple"...i.e me & my son.

Excuse me, i want to go up to kiss him again while he sleeps.

Unknown said...

Dear brother James,

Thank you so much for sharing your experience. I am indeed happy that you and your son have a beautiful relationship.

In the Asian context, using the cane seems to be the norm in many families. Once, I had a 17 year-old student who was constantly being caned by his mother!!! It was very difficult for me to teach him because half the time, he was emotionally and physically scarred and I wanted to report his case many times, but chose instead to speak to his mom's friends to persuade them to talk to her. Very sad...

Take care, brother James and may God continue to guide and bless you and yours in every area of your life.

Shalom.