Monday 21 April 2008

Monday morning Inspiration # 28


A frail old man went to live with his son, daughter-in-law, and four-year grandson. The old man's hands trembled, his eyesight was blurred, and his step faltered. The family ate together at the table. But the elderly grandfather's shaky hands and failing sight made eating difficult. Peas rolled off his spoon onto the floor. When he grasped the glass, milk spilled on the tablecloth.

The son and daughter-in-law became irritated with the mess. "We must do something about Grandfather," said the son. "I've had enough of his spilled milk, noisy eating, and food on the floor". So the husband and wife set a small table in the corner. There, Grandfather ate alone while the rest of the family enjoyed their dinners together.

Since Grandfather had broken a dish or two, his food was served in a wooden bowl. When the family glanced in Grandfather's direction, sometimes he had a tear in his eye as he sat alone. Still, the only words the couple had for him were sharp admonitions when he dropped a fork or spilled food.

The four-year-old watched it all in silence. One evening before supper, the father noticed his son playing with wood scraps on the floor. He asked the child sweetly, "What are you making?" Just as sweetly, the boy responded, "Oh, I am making a little bowl for you and Mama to eat your food in when you get old." The four year old smiled and went back to work.

The words so struck the parents that they were speechless. Then tears started to stream down their cheeks. Though no word was spoken, both knew what must be done. That evening the husband took Grandfather's hand and gently led him back to the family table. For the remainder of his days he ate every meal with the family. And for some reason, neither husband nor wife seemed to care any longer when a fork was dropped, milk spilled, or the tablecloth soiled.

For other Monday morning Inspirations click here.

7 comments:

Vasanthan said...

after reading this post i got reminded of a similar story that i read form a book written by a monk. I was there for the book's launch. it has both comic and written stories. i will e-mail it to u.. maybe even post it on the web.. But full credits to the monk who wrote it (Ven. Weragoda Sarada Maha Thero was his name)- name of the book is "parent and children key to happiness

Shalini Gowrisankar said...

@Vasanthan

That's interesting.. post it when your free :)

Lena said...

it brought tears to my eyes, how often we forget about our parents just because they are not the same young cheerful, capable of anything human being we used to have a round..
i am glad the couple realised they were wrong ..

Raghavan alias Saravanan M said...

hey shalini,

how r u..? long time...

yeah i have read this already.. still i dont miss to refresh these kinda excellent and useful info..

keep up the good work! :)

Cheers...

K.Kiran said...

Shalini,

I was just mooning around the webspace looking for blogs in Indiblogger stumbled on yours.Nice blog,looking forward to read more and more.

K.Kiran.
onesnzeroes.blogspot.com

lukkydivz said...

i am crying!!

Shalini Gowrisankar said...

@lukkydivz

I'm so sorry, didn't actually wanna make you cry. It's jus' that I wanted people to realise. I understand its a very touching story thou'. Thanks for dropping by my blog. Will visit yours soon :)