As far as I am aware, the son himself has written this article. When I first heard this story it brought me to tears, and then anger when I thought maybe the mother should have stood up for herself, and not let her son treat her with disrespect. Maybe the son should have asked his mother why she looked the way she did, and maybe she would have told him, and just maybe they would have shared a loving mother and son relationship.
Even if this story is not real for whatever reason, the message behind this is very moving. Messages we see in many stories whether it is real life or made up. They are stories of love and sacrifice for one person, and entire nation, or even the world that most of us appreciate and admire. They teach us that there is more to life than just wanting more for ourselves, or getting it our way. They teach us how some special people can even sacrifice their lives happily and never expect anything in return. I am not saying it is easy to do what the mother has done in this story, or of any characters real or made up in any story. But I think if love is real then nothing seems difficult even if it means losing an eye. A sacrifice will never feel like a sacrifice at all; it would just be an expression of that love from one person to another.
-------
 In a village in Punjab, India, a mother and son lived together in a modest home. The son was named Surinder. As the son grew and was more aware of his senses, he realized his mother had only one eye. She did not look normal like he did, or like other women. He was frightened of her and often told her ‘Stay away from me!’. She could never have a loving affectionate relationship with her son as he always told her to stay away. She could not even put food on a plate for him when he had to eat because he did not want her to be that near to him. Surinder put the food himself and did as much as could independently just so that she would stay as far away from him as possible.
When he started having friends come over, Surinder used to tell his mother ‘Stay inside the house!’ as he played outside, never wanting his friend to see his one eyed mother. Out of fear she kept herself inside the house and never came out when his friends were there. One day Surinder’s school had a function organized for all the students who had passed their classes. As he had also passed his class, his mother decided to attend the function. When Surinder saw his mother at his school, he was so infuriated and in such anger and hate he shouted at his mother ‘Why did you come here?!’ and even went on further and beat her. Such resentment he had because of how his mother looked, that he left his home as soon as he could to study and live outside of Punjab, away from her. Never did he ever call her ‘mother’ but rather ‘that woman’, out of hate. As he studied and grew to an adult, he felt fortunate to find a job that was also outside of Punjab. His marriage was also outside of Punjab, done without even informing his mother. At one point he briefly went to her to mention that he is now settled elsewhere and is married. She asked him ‘Can I at least know where you live now?’. He never told her. The son spent the next ten years in his new life, away from his mother. He had two children, a son and a daughter in this time. And never once did he contact his mother. One day a man who was also from Surinder’s village was working in the area as well. He came to know where Surinder lived, and informed his mother of his whereabouts. The mother left to go see her son. Upon knocking on his door, Surinder’s son opened the door and got scared because of how she looked. Surinder came to the door to see who it was. This was after ten years of not seeing his mother; he decided to literally push her out the door because she scared his son. The mother politely said to him, ‘Do not push me I am leaving. All I wanted was to see your face. I shall not go meet your wife either.’ And so the mother left. Another five years passed. Surinder got a letter from his old school in his village in Punjab, inviting him to attend a function in honor of all the people who got great jobs after their studies. He decided to attend this event, lying to his wife as to where he was going. Not a thought in his head to pay his mother a visit, he met his friends at the event, had a good time and then began making his way back home. As he stood at the bus stop, a greedy thought then came to his head, ‘There must be some right of mine on that land and the house my mother lives in. Let me just go and ask her.’
‘Son if you are reading this letter then it is possible that I am no longer here in this world. I can see my days are coming to an end. I am writing this letter and leaving it with the neighbours. I know that there is an event in your school and I know you will attend it. I will not be here when that happens. I wanted to say sorry for every time I troubled you in life by being around you. And as I am now leaving I wish to tell you something. I did not always look like how you remember me. I had two eyes and looked completely fine. When you were a very young boy, you had hurt your eye very badly and became blind in that eye. The doctor could not do anything to recover your sight, and so I told him to take my eye and give it to you.’ |
As he made way to the house, he noticed the front door was open. The house looked empty. Random household items were scattered around. And a there was a ‘manji’ (a simple bed) that lay outside. One of the neighbours spotted him and realized it was Surinder. He walked up to him and said to him, ‘Your mother has passed away. It has been ten days. She has left this letter for you and requested you read it.’ Surinder felt no remorse and was actually relieved at the fact that his mother no longer existed. Reluctantly he sat on the manji and began to read the letter:------
Coming back to our daily lives, I hope that the lesson we can all learn from this is that as humans, we should learn to live for each other as much as possible, rather than just live with each other. Even a small act of kindness, such as opening the door for someone even though you are exhausted from a long day at work is still living for one another. Lending an ear to a friend who needs to speak to someone is still living for one another. Cooking dinner for your family so that your mother can have a break is still living for one another. And in doing all these small things, we can create a world of harmony, peace and love for ourselves.
I hope this story inspires millions of people, so that whenever possible, we all stop and ‘hold the door’ for someone too.
Harpreet Manku
Original story as published:
http://www.moralstories.org/mothers-sacrifice/