Copy and paste this from Dr. Liew‘s blog, titled ‘Fifty Ringgit‘. I am sharing this because it is a good reminder for us parents. Do read the original from Dr. Liew’s blog ‘cos I think my margin and alignment will all lari lintang pukang.
It was already late into the early hours of the morning. Ah Loong was still going through the papers on his table in the study room. This particular client had been real fussy. But the revenue is good if his tender goes through successfully. His client must be enjoying himself at that particular moment with the two prostitutes he had arranged for him earlier. These Middle East flers are really a humsup bunch, he shaked his head.
Ah Loong was punching on his four-rows-twelve-digits calculator with paper printout when his son Ah Seng, approached him.
Son : “Daddy…”
Father : *stop flipping pages* *lift eyes* “Why are you still awake at this hour? What do you want?”
Son : “How much do you make in an hour?”
Father : *lift head* “Why such question at this hour? Hmm…” *punch punch punch calculator* “It comes to around a hundred ringgit an hour… You should be asleep now. Go back to sleep. You still have school tomorrow.”
Son : “Can I borrow fifty ringgit from you?”
Father : “You disturb me at this hour just to ask for fifty ringgit? Go back to sleep before I cane you!”
So Ah Seng went back to his bedroom, closed the door and threw himself onto the bed. He cried and cried wiwiwawa kaubeh kaubu very the cai leong.
Ah Loong heard his crying across the walls.
“What’s fifty bucks to me. The dinner with my client, with karaoke, supper and giu gai jik lork (å«é·„ç›´è½) already cost me near five digits. What’s fifty bucks to me?” Ah Loong was thinking.
So he retrieved his wallet and fished out a fifty ringgit note. He knocked on Ah Seng’s door.
No response.
He turned the door knob. It was not locked.
He proceeded to enter the room and sat by Ah Seng’s bed.
Father : “I’m sorry son. I was having some problem thinking over my business. Here you go.” *hand over the fifty ringgit note* “Go and buy whatever you want.”
Ah Seng stopped crying and sat up. He reached under the lamp by his bed and took out another fifty ringgit note.
Son : “I’ve managed to save this fifty ringgit over the past two months, with this fifty ringgit from you, it will total up to a hundred ringgit.”
Father : “And?”
Son : “And with this hundred ringgit, I hope I can buy an hour from you so that you can come back an hour earlier tomorrow to have dinner with us…”
uwaaaaa….hits waaaaay too close to home. very touching story. a lesson to be learnt nevertheless
Read it b4 in email. Still love it as a reminder that I did right, for the sake of my girls who were growing up. I had to forgo opportunities for promotion after refusing a transfer to another dept in which the boss insisted on employees stay around after dark even if they had nothing much left to do, just to show to an even bigger boss he has a hard-working bunch of people.
Wow, that hits. I have a bit of trouble with my kid currently, even so I come home earlier, but I am too rushy all the time. Thanks for this right up. I am glad I read it 🙂
Andreas – Yeah, it is good to stop, pause and think for a while, right?
LC Teh – Thanks to Dr Liew for bringing it up. I need that reminder too.
Nazrah – Agree.
My God.. this is so.. *sniff sniff* touching. I know I’ve read this before but still, it really hits me hard. I wonder if anyone has done an ad with this? If yes, point me to it. Would be nice to keep and make it a screensaver or something.
But are there many parents in Malaysia still working too much and ignoring their parental duties? Or have forgotten them? Or bosses pushing them until they forget?
Sorry for the questions, not been hearing it much from the newspapers online. Cheers.
testing
Touching..! yes.. a good reminder.. for sure.. ! 🙂
my heart strings were firmly tugged by this story. thanks for the reminder of our beloved little ones.