“I
ran into a stranger as he passed by.”Oh, excuse me please” was my
reply.

He said,
“Please excuse me too; wasn’t even watching for you.” We were very
polite, this stranger and I. We went on our way and we said good-bye. But at
home a different story is told, how we treat our loved ones, young and old.

Later that
day, cooking the evening meal, my daughter stood beside me very still. When I
turned, I nearly knocked her down. “Move out of the way,” I said with
a frown. She walked away, her little heart broken. I didn’t realize how harshly
I’d spoken.

While I
lay awake in bed, God’s still small voice came to me and said: “While
dealing with a stranger, common courtesy you use, but the children you love,
you seem to abuse. Look on the kitchen floor, you’ll find some flowers there by
the door. Those are the flowers she brought for you. She picked them herself; pink,
yellow and blue. She stood quietly not to spoil the surprise, And you never saw
the tears in her eyes.”

By this time, I felt very small and now my tears began to fall.I quietly went
and knelt by her bed; “Wake up, little girl, wake up,” I said.

“Are
these the flowers you picked for me?”

She
smiled, “I found them out by the tree. I picked them because they’re
pretty like you. I knew you’d like them, especially the blue.” I said,
“Daughter, I’m sorry for the way I acted today; I shouldn’t have yelled at
you that way.” she said “Oh Mom that’s okay. I love you anyway”.
I said, “Daughter, I love you too, and I do like the flowers especially
the blue”

Are you
aware that: If we die tomorrow, the company that we are working for could
easily replace us in a matter of days. But the family we left behind will feel
the loss for the rest of their lives.

And come
to think of it, we pour ourselves more into work than to our family an unwise
investment indeed.”  story  found on  “evidyarthi“

Isn’t it
true that we tend to be harsh and provocative with our loved ones and we save
the nice attitude and pep talk to those that are not even close to us? We are
tuning the kind generous attitude towards one side without the other.

I am not
suggesting that we become impolite with the rest of the world, but why can’t we
be nice with those that care about us the most? We yell at them and we don’t stand
for a minute to think about their feelings and reaction to what we do or say. It
is like we are taking them for granted and we count on them being there all the
time.

How many
times we heard adults ask young children: who do you love more? Mommy or daddy?

Just by
asking this question; we assume that love comes by default. Just because
someone is related to you by blood, you are supposed to love them
unconditionally. Well, I don’t believe that any more. Love is a reflection of
positive energy; when you feel love you radiate it and reflect it back. When you
are given love; you will give back, but in no way when you don’t feel it or get
it; that you will be able to give back.

As a
second child in the family; I always thought that I had to prove myself real
hard so that my parents would love me more than my beautiful elder sister and
my smart cute younger sister. I subjected myself to a tremendous amount of pressure
to impress them just because they did not know how to show me that they loved
me no matter what. Only now I know that they do.

If you
love someone; tell them and show them in every way you can because this might
be your last chance to do so.