Wednesday, February 20, 2013

DEAR DADDY



                   Two students in a college were close friends. One was the son of a rich merchant but his friend was very poor. The rich son used to spend money extravagantly and act recklessly. He wanted to make more money to live more lavishly. He devised a plan to steal ornaments from a jewellery shop by night. He sought the assistance of the poor friend for the crime. They broke into the shop by night and stole some expensive jewellery. The next day the police traced the culprits and they were held in custody. They were produced before the court of law and they were convicted of the crime by the court. The judge sentenced them to pay a heavy fine and decreed that they would be imprisoned if the fine was not paid forthwith.
                  The rich man arrived in his expensive car with the required sum of money and easily paid the fine to release his son. The poor man had no money with him. There was nobody to help him. So he made a contract with the owner of a distant quarry that he would work for him in the quarry for an year. He received some money as an advance payment for his promised labour. With this money he could pay the fine and get his son released. But he had to shift to the quarry where he had to toil in the scorching summer to break the rocks and stones in the quarry and carry them to the trucks for transportation. His body became bruised by the laborious work and he got inflicted with several wounds. He shed a lot of blood and his body was scarred from the hard and dangerous work in the quarry. He had to stay in the clumsy temporary tents away from home for days together to continue his bonded labour.
                   The two friends resumed their studies. One day the rich man's son invited his friend to join him in another operation of theft assuring that he had planned the operation meticulously and so they would not be traced this time. But the poor man's son declined the request remembering the hardships his loving father was suffering to compensate for the fine paid to save him from imprisonment. He told his rich friend, "My dear Daddy has shed his blood and bruised his body to save me. He is enduring this punishment for my sinful actions.  I will never commit another crime in my life."
                    Martin David Buxbaum (1912-1991), editor of Marriot's "Table Talk", tells parents that success in parenting is not measured by the expensive gifts and facilities you may provide to a child:
"You can use most any measure
When you are speaking of success.
You can measure it in fancy home,
Expensive car or dress.
But the measure of your real success
Is the one you cannot spend.
It's the way your kids describe you
When talking to a friend."
                    The family is the first and best institution founded by God. The letters in the word, FAMILY may be regarded as representing the first letters of the words in the statement, “Father And Mother ILove, Year-round”
or the hearty remark of a loving little child, “Father And Mother! I Love You”. 
                    Parents should stand between their child and God- not as a separating wall but as a connecting link.
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© By Dr. Babu Philip, Professor, Cochin University of Science & Technology, Fine Arts Avenue, Kochi-682016, Kerala, India, Prof. Mrs. Rajamma Babu, Former Professor, St. Dominic's College, Kanjirappally, Leo. S. John, St. Antony's Public School, Anakkal, Kanjirappally and Neil John, Maniparambil, Ooriyakunnath, Kunnumbhagom, Kanjirappally, Kottayam-686507, Kerala, India.
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