The Sacrifice Of Parenting – Defining Success For Yourself

The Sacrifice Of Parenting- Defining Success For You explores the sacrifices of parenting and how well to define one’s success.

Once upon a time in a village, there was an old man named Harry, who could best be described as an epitome of parental sacrifice.

He hadn’t seen his son for a few years and wanted to meet his son who lived in a city, and asked for his farewell and reminisced about the good old times with him.

He started his journey and came to a city where his son used to work and stay. He went to the place where he used to get letters long back.

When he knocked on the door he was excited and smiled with joy to meet his son.  Unfortunately, someone else opened the door.

Harry asked, “I suppose Jerry should be staying in this place.”  The person said, “No! He had left the place and shifted to a different location.” Harry was disappointed and started thinking about how to meet his son.

He started to walk in the street and some of the neighbours who recognised him asked Harry, “Are you looking for Jerry?”

Harry responded by nodding his head as he was tired from the long walk and his legs were feeble due to old age.

The neighbours gave their current residential and office addresses Jerry to Harry. Harry thanked them and started towards the path which would lead to his son.

Harry went to the office and asked at the reception counter, “Could you please tell me the location of Jerry, in this office?”

The receptionist asked, “May I know how you are related to him?” Harry responded politely by saying, “I’m his father.”

The receptionist told Harry to wait for a moment rang up Jerry and conveyed the message. Jerry was shocked and told the receptionist to send his father to the cabin immediately.

The Sacrifice Of Parenting – Defining Success For Yourself

Harry entered the cabin and when he saw his son, Jerry. His eyes were filled with tears. Jerry was happy to see his father. They had a simple conversation for a while and then Harry asked Jerry, “Son! Mom wants to see you. Can you come home with me?

Jerry responded:

“No father. I can’t come. I am very busy working for my success and it’s hard to manage a leave to VISIT YOU as my hands are full with loads of stressful work .”

Harry gave a simple smile and said, “Okay! You may do your work. I’ll be going back to our village today, in the evening.”

Jerry asked, “You can stay for a few days with me. Please.”  Harry responded after a moment of silence, “Son. You are busy with your tasks. I don’t want to make you uncomfortable or become a burden for you.”

He continued:  “I hope, if ever I had a chance to meet you again, I would be happy.”

He left the place.

After a few weeks, Jerry wondered why his father came alone after a long time, he felt bad for weirdly treating his father.  He felt guilty for it and took a leave in the office for a few days and went to his village to meet his father.

When he went to the place where he was born and grew up, he saw that his parents were not there.

He was shocked and asked the neighbours, “What happened here? My parents have to be there.

Where are they now?”  The neighbours gave the address of the place where his parents are staying.

The Sacrifice Of Parenting – Defining Success For Yourself

Jerry rushed to the place and noticed that the place was like a graveyard. Jerry’s eyes were filled with tears and started to walk slowly towards the place. His father Harry noticed Jerry in a far distance and waved his hand to draw his attention.  Jerry saw his father and started to run and hugged him.

Harry asked, “How are you?” and continued, “What a surprise to see you here.  I didn’t expect that you would be coming to this place.”

Jerry felt ashamed and kept his head down.

Harry said, “Why are you feeling bad?  Has anything wrong happened?”  Jerry responded, “No Father” continued, “It’s just I never knew that I would be seeing you in this position in our village.”

Harry smiled and said, “Your mother and I had taken a loan when you moved to a city for your college to pay for your education, then again when you wanted a new car, but due to a loss in farming, we couldn’t repay the loan.

So I thought of approaching you for help, but you were very busy and stressed with your work.  I just didn’t want to burden you with this problem and remained silent and I had to let go of our home to repay the loan.”

Jerry whispered, “You could’ve told me. I’m not an outsider.”  Harry turned around and said, “You were very busy and stressed with your work which made me remain quiet.  All we wanted was your happiness. So I kept quiet.”

Jerry started to cry and hugged his father again and in turn his mother. He apologized to his father and asked him to forgive him, for his mistake of not being sensitive to their needs and upkeep.

Harry smiled and said, “No need for that. We’re happy with what we’ve got now.

All we want is FOR you TO spare some time for us, we love you very much and at this old age, it’s hard to travel to see you often.”

Moral of the Lesson

Parents will always be there and give everything they could just to make you happy but we take them for granted. We don’t appreciate all they do for us until it is too late.

When you find a path of success in your life, carry on but don’t leave your parents behind as they are the true reason for your success.

It is important to echo the late Coach John Wooden who defined success as … “peace of mind, which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to do your best, to become the best that you are capable of becoming.”

May our parenting journey and experience be successful.

https://psyche.co/ideas/why-are-tiger-parents-willing-to-trade-love-for-success

The Sacrifice Of Parenting – Defining Success For Yourself