I
am not a perfect daughter, there are times that I commit mistakes that make my
parents go mad, go ballistic and sometimes animalistic. Kidding aside, there
are things in life that you’ll never learn in school, things that only your
parents can instill in your mind. And I proudly say that I am grateful that my
parents taught me to…
1. Always be grateful. Whatever is given
to you, make sure that you say ‘Thank You’ and mean it. This is what my parents
keep on telling me, every time there is a blessing may it be small or big. And
when you ask for something and it was given to you and it is different from
what you’ve asked, don’t be ungrateful, still say ‘Thank You’, it may differ
from what you’ve asked but it is better that you what you expected. No matter
how good or bad your life now always be thankful, because what you not know is
that someone somewhere else is desperately fighting for theirs. Do not think of
your shortcomings or the things you are missing, think of something else that
you have that everyone else is missing.
2. Not look at Religion, because it doesn’t
matter what your religion is, as long as you believe in Him. As my parents
say “Religion is just a name. Faith and religion are two different things.” We
should never ever judge someone based on their religion, because religion is
just a superficial context, what’s important is how you proclaim your faith. My
parents are the reason why I know how to pray. They introduced me to someone I
know will never ever leave me, no matter how hard life’s currents are. I
remember when I was a kid they always bring me and my brothers to church; they
make sure that we never missed a Sunday mass. Every night we pray the rosary,
before we eat, we pray, before we travel we pray. In a nutshell, our world
starts with Him, revolve around Him. We are not religious people as the society
names you, but we are faithful people, that acknowledge Him.
3. Study hard. Education is precious. “Be
thankful that you are able to study, not everyone is given that chance.” When
we start going to school my folks started telling this to us, to remind us
every day when we complain of why we need to wake up early just to go to school
that there are lots of children deprived of this necessity. Maybe right now we
can’t see the beauty of education, but later in life we will see its
significance. My parents did not grow up in a rich environment, albeit they
were still able to finish their education because of their hard work and determination.
My father was a scholar of a well-known corporation and my mother worked hard
just to finish her study as a janitress in their college in the province, and
because of her dedication she graduated as a ‘Cum Laude’.
4. Struggle before success. You need to
work hard so that you can earn hard. Success does not happen in just a flick of
the finger. Even those who won the lottery, experienced hardships. As they keep
on telling us “If there are two roads towards your success, the easy one and
the hard one, always choose the hard one, so that you will be able to
appreciate everything that you will gain and learn so that your success is not
just for overnight.”
5. Eat what’s on your plate. My parents
taught me to not to be choosy, especially when it comes to food. Because we are
lucky we still have food on our plates, some families do not have. I always
remember my brothers struggling in eating vegetables; well they don’t have a
choice, my parents will never stop pushing them to eat those vegetables. So every
time I eat, I always make sure that I finish what is on my plate, because it
reminds me of the people who is starving because they do not have any food to
eat. I learn to not waste food and be thankful that we never experienced being
hungry.
6. Not to buy things that is not needed. There
are things in life that is necessary and just for luxury. If you do not need
it, do not buy it, because when the time comes that you need money at least you
have some to spend. When you are successful enough, when you graduate then buy
everything you want if that’s what you like but be very smart. Be prepared,
spend first for your life plans, buy a house and secure your life. Then live as
luxuriously as you want at least you are prepared. My parents keep on telling
us that we are not rich so what we want like gadgets or new clothes cannot be
given to us immediately or sometimes will never be given to us. They taught us
to differentiate wants and needs; we are able to prioritize important things
from what is not.
7. Remember that respect is a give and take
relationship. Give your respect to authorities and elders, but remember
respect is earned. At first my parents told us this statement, questions marks
formed inside our minds. What do they mean about that? As time goes by I
learned that respect is contagious and it is reciprocated. People won’t respect
you if you give them reasons not to respect you. That is why my parents never
let me wear clothes that are tempting to the eyes of men. Same with my
brothers, my parents taught them to respect girls on how they want other people
respect me and my mom and their future daughters and wife.
8. Stop looking for happiness. “Happiness
is your family.” This is one of my parents’ favorite lines. They keep on
telling us this, every single day. They said that we don’t need to travel the
world or have the biggest house, best car to be happy, we just have to look
inside our family and that is what is called as happiness. Happiness is not
measured by its monetary value, because of the things we desire are expensive,
really expensive, but candidly speaking the only things that can satisfy us is
free---love, peace and laughter.
9. Love each other. “When the time comes
that God will take away this borrowed life, you’ll be on your own, so love each
other.” The first time I heard this from my parents I did not take it
seriously, but as we grow older we see the significance of this statement. We
still have our parents but now we can see brightly the importance of a family
and the significance of one another. We start becoming open to each other and I
and my brothers became closer with each other. We still have fights, but in the
end we learn to be understanding of each of our differences. Because we know
when our parents die, we only have each other through everything. It is only us
that will help and comfort each other.
10. Accept that death is inevitable. Everything
has its own ending. Everything that started will end. “When you accept death,
you gain life.” My parents instilled that in my mind. We keep on joking in our
house that ‘if it is your time, it is your time, there are no extensions’ they
will be mad when we keep on joking this, but they inside they are glad that we
accept this type of things freely. That is why every day is a special day for
us.
