Something I've learnt over a visit to the homes of my children is that they need all the love they could get. I always thought I knew my kids well; at least well enough to help them through their lives, may it be to give them advice, play and sing with them, draw or learn chants together. But not after yesterday, no. I came to know that, two hours spent with them each week isn't enough for me to know who they are, or how they feel, or what they love; because when they come for the children's classes, they adapt accordingly especially when they know it's with me, a children's class teacher who plays a different role from their families and school teachers. They know I'm a teacher in a way, but they never call me their teacher but rather their sister. And I guess that's been one of the reasons how we have bonded so soon and how much they love to come and hang out at the volunteer's house the moment they know that one of us gets there. It's such an amazing feeling to see them so excited to see us.
Back to yesterday, a couple of us went to one of the boy's houses, Tao, and we spoke to his aunt, whom he calls his "mom". We spent about half an hour or so there and this lady told us the stories that were so unexpected about this wonderful boy. She told us that Tao has been abandoned by his real parents. They left him with his aunt about a year ago and it's been a year ever since they visited Tao. That's so sad. And what's worse is that, Tao is old enough to know that he's been left by his parents, he often questions his aunt, "Why must I pray and thank God for giving me parents when they don't even visit me?". When I heard that, tears welled up in my eyes; I looked at Tao with such pity but I told myself that 'pity' would be the last thing he would ever want. All he wants would be just pure and genuine love. What saddened me more was the fact that Tao would call his parents asking them to visit him and when the day comes, they would never show up and he would end up crying. And even his birthday, they didn't show up. I wonder how this boy would turn out to be if he didn't have his aunt caring for him and it's not like his parents live that far away, they're in Bangkok and yet they don't pay him a single visit. I feel extremely sad, and all I want to do, is to give him all the love he could get. And from now on, I know better of the approach I should take when I speak to him. We also told his aunt that she's doing such a great sacrifice and the amount of blessing she would get for taking Tao in and not abandoning him. This definitely cannot be described.
We often don't give much importance about caring or expressing love for a child. And that's where we as human beings are wrong. Children are gems and it's we who need to reveal those treasures in them. 'Abdu'l-Bahá said:
"...the beloved of God and the maidservants must train their children with life and heart and teach them in the school of virtue and perfection. They must not be lax in this matter; they must not be inefficient."
I hope that from this post of mine, we all would pay more attention to children and visit them to learn more about them so they could get all the right help and love from us.
