Hello people!! Hope Christmas has treated you well and hope you’ve have all enjoyed the company and warmth that came with Christmas. However, for some, they unfortunately didn’t have the same warmth extended to them, both literal and metaphorically.
As Christmas commenced, we sat around the table with smiles and empty stomachs all ready to dig in and share stories. Empty plates became full and empty stomach slowly start to get filled. But as we sat and talked, my mother told us a story about the homeless woman she met during her last minute Christmas eve shopping.
As she was walking, a lady stopped her to ask her for money. My mom than stops and asks her “Will you be spending this money on alcohol later?”, the lady replied “No”. Turns out she just came back from her daughter’s HOUSE to give the present she had for her granddaughter, a present she used all the money she just begged for to get. Stunned by her reply, my mom then asks “how come they didn’t invite you in to spend Christmas with them?”. Saddened, the lady said that her son-in-law was not comfortable to have her in the house because of her “state” (yes, please be angry at the son-in-law with me). So with that she was let back into the cold whilst her daughter and son-in-law enjoy the joys of Christmas with their daughter.
It was here we paused, dumbfounded on how someone would let their mother roam the cold streets during Christmas simply because of her “state”. She raised that woman, she carried her for nine months, she tried her best to provide for her, but now? Now she’s pushed back out like an unwanted pet? It was just so heartbreaking.
Sometimes I feel like this western world I live in is so advanced, but then sometimes I question if moral is something that still exists? In our culture, parents are praised and highly respected, no matter how in-the-wrong they may be. Sure you can judge how that relationship works, but I can assure you never in our life would we let our mother enter a home just to go back out to being homeless. Things are different here. Yes, things are more complex. But what tells you that it was OK to let your mother continue to be homeless on a day like Christmas? Was the idea of spending money on an extra person too much for you? Like, I just don’t understand it. Is this how the west treat those who raise them? As if they’re disposable trash? Just think about that for a second. There may be family complications in the past, things might’ve happened, but it was Christmas for Pete’s sake! Even now my heart goes out for the woman who had nothing to provide something for her granddaughter. Wherever she is, may she find peace in this world, with herself and her family; and may the family that pushed her out realise their mistake and take actions immediately, because this is not the kind of world I want to be living in, where we treat our family as unwanted baggage.
Guys, love one another. Don’t let pride come between you and those you once loved. Life is too short to be treating those close to you like this.
I hope you all have a brilliant year next year, filled with love, care and peace. Stay blessed my fellow humans.
Merry belated Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Thoughts of A Fijian Guy 