A young boy aged 9 lived with his
father, mother and his 85-year-old grandfather. The grandfather, in his old
age, had poor eyesight and was also rather feeble at his limbs. As such,
porcelain bowls often slipped from his wrinkled hands when he was eating, much
to the annoyance of his son and daughter-in-law.
On this day when the young boy
was playing in the backyard of the big mansion they were staying in, his
grandfather accidentally broke another porcelain bowl yet again, just a few feet
away from where the boy was playing. Hearing the breaking sound of the bowl,
the boy’s mother and father came rushing out of their room and stated chiding
the grandfather on how clumsy and troublesome he was.
Deciding that he had had enough,
the boy’s father commented to the boy’s mother, “Don’t worry. I know that all
these bowl-breaking by the old man will never end so yesterday I told our
butler to make a bowl out of the coconut husks found in our backyard.” With
that, the boy’s father disappeared for a few moments before reappearing with a
brown coarse-looking bowl carved out of an old coconut husk. He gave it to the
old man who took over the coconut bowl silently.
It was at this moment when the
parents heard a soft but clear grinding sound behind them. They turned around
and saw that their 9-year-old son was playing with a metal spoon and a coconut
husk. Unsure of what their son was doing, the father proceeded to ask his son,
“Son, what are you doing with a spoon and the coconut husk?’ The boy looked up
and with his gentle eyes and innocent voice, he replied to his father, “Oh I
saw how papa gave grandpa the coconut bowl. I thought papa may also need this
bowl in future when you are old. So I am making the bowl in advance for you.”
Children are gifts from God. They
are born innocent and pure. But when they grow old, some of them remain good,
others change for the better while still others for the worse. Yet, the problem
in attitude lies not only when children grow old, but even at their young age,
children nowadays talk about sex, pornographic movies on cable television,
drugs, etc. Young as they are, they are already worldly. We may say that
children have lost their innocence. They have lost their true identity as gifts
from God. Why? This is so as there is a change in values among parents when it
comes to parenting. Parents allow their children to be exposed early to the
adult world thinking that it is better for them to learn early from adult
experiences. What parents fail to foresee is that their children miss their age
of protection.
Our Gospel (Luke 1: 57-66) tells us
that when John was born, he was exposed to the adult world where their
neighbors and kinsfolk were very involved at his birth. Thanks to his parents
because they protected John by insisting that his name should be John despite the
protest of the people. They said, “None of your kindred is called by this name.”
The act of his parents to give the child the name John reminds all parents that
young children should be given love and protection. They should show love to
their children as love is the highest form of communication between parents and
children. They have to give protection to children because the latter cannot yet
protect themselves. In protecting them, they should protect them not only from physical
threats but also from that which could rob them of their childhood. Parents should
treat their children as a child. They should let their children play with them
and be who they are in their presence. They should allow their children to
confide in them and give them a hug. All these may be understood by parents if
they read Proverbs 22: 6 stating, “Train up a child in the way he should go:
and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”
May all parents then today learn
from Zechariah and Elizabeth to love and protect their children. Amen.
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