From the Front Page Sections, translated…
In the evenings, I went to the kindergarten to pick my son up from school, in the cold wind I saw the Christmas lights, illuminating the entrance to his school, the teachers told, that Christmas is right around the corner, that the director of the kindergarten decorated the kindergarten, so the kids can feel the celebratory atmosphere.
I watched the lights that were wrapped around the Christmas tree, and, my thoughts took me back to my childhood, because my father had, once brought home the exact same decorations too.
When I was in the sixth grade, my father’s friend works for an exporting company, and one of their products were Christmas lights. That, was the very first time I’d seen it, but, there was no Christmas tree inside of my house, and so, my father decided, to hang the lights across the walls, and, the originally clean walls started having the projections from the multi-colored lights reflected upon them, and my brother and I would watch the lights with our undivided attention. We’d asked the power to be plugged in at supper time every evening, and so, as the family sat down for a simple meal at the supper table, with our eyes, watching those lights aglow from the walls, as we’d told our parents, the goings-on of our school days, and those lights that shone, bore witness to the love we had for one another.
As I’d become an adult, I’d still loved looking at Christmas decorations, whether it be at the malls, on the trees by the sidewalks, even those simple few lights hung across the doorways of those super convenience shops, the blinking of the lights always captured my attention, perhaps, is how the blinking of those lights took me back to my childhood years, the light that glowed symbolized my father’s love toward us. He’d always come home for supper with us every single evening, and, listened to us, as we’d yapped on and on, about our days, and, even if we’d made bad grades on the exams that day, he’d only told us, to work harder next time. He’d paid strict attention to our courtesy toward others as well as our behaviors, when we bumped into elders in our neighborhood, we must say hello, and, on the holidays and weekends, he’d always take it upon him, to sweep up the staircases from the first to the fourth floor.
Once, I asked me because I was confused, “The stairs don’t just belong to us, why must we clean it up?”, my father replied, because we’re at the fourth floor, and we passed through most floors, and so, we must clean it up, making things more convenient for others, as well as ourselves,” and honestly, I thought, that my father was too dumb, the things that nobody else wants to do, why must he do it? As I’d gotten older, I’d realized, that my father is setting himself as an example, hoping, that we can become, socially aware and socially responsible as we grow older.
When we were at school and gotten scolded by our instructors due to misunderstandings, we’d gone home to complain, and our father would share with us, “Your teachers are responsible for so many children, maybe, your teachers DID misunderstand you, so the next time, you do better for your instructors to see, you must empathize how much hard work goes into your teachers’ educating you, do you understand it?”, looking at the parents now, as their kids gotten scolded, they’d rushed to the schools, and grilled the school teachers about it, and, when the teachers don’t have a reasonable explanation for the parents, then, they will be complained on. Sometimes, even when the kids are the ones who’d misbehaved, the parents would hover over them, even taught their young, how to dodge taking up responsibilities, making them selfish and irresponsible.
And, how can a child who’s raised in this sort of self-centeredness be able empathize and respect others? And, there would be parents who are too busy, working, and just gave their young any and everything they’d asked for, and not teach them right from wrong, and that became those Christmas lights that are unplugged, no matter how expensive or beautiful, it’s still, garbage at the end.
I truly hope, that the parents will become, better examples for their young, take some time, to care about the kids, hear what your children are saying, and, also, pay attention to how your children behave and carry themselves, the parents are the best role models for the children for life.
And so, this just shows, how important, the education that happens in the family is, because everything still starts, with the separate families out there, but, because the modern day families are malfunctioning right now, that, is why there are, so many problems with the society these days, and, in order to make this world better, we should start, setting a BETTER example for our own young, because, you do NOT want your kids to grow up, into TRASH, or someone who wastes the resources of the societies out there, do you???