Today I remember Mother and her selfless devotion to her family, demonstrated daily in so many ways.
There was one year when Father got quite ill. I was
still in primary school. He had quite bad diabetes and had to go to the Ipoh
General Hospital regularly, about 2 hours drive away from Parit Buntar (a small
town where we used to stay) to get his regular insulin jabs. Then my Mother
learnt from an old Thai lady about a small wild plant which could cure
diabetes.
Mother used to walk out of town to the fringes of the jungle
to harvest the plant at least once a week, most of the time bringing her
children with her. She painstakingly plucked and washed the leaves, pounded the
leaves into a paste and cooked the paste with a whole big piece of meat on low
heat for several hours. When it was done, she would take out the meat and serve
the paste to my father. But each time, 2 hours before she served my father the
paste she would take 2 tablespoons herself.
Actually, she was never sure whether the wild plants she
harvested were the right ones and she was afraid that Father may be poisoned
and die. What if you die? I asked her. Her answer was" it is better for me
(rather than father) to die because I do not earn money. Your Father has to
live to earn money to bring you all up". Even though I was still small and
could not fully appreciate her selflessness, I had never forgotten what she
said. Also my father was actually cured with the paste.
Only a life lived for others is worth living - Albert
Einstein
