A story of a little boy......
My mom only had one eye.I hated her,she was such an embarrassment.My mom ran a small shop at a flea market.She collected little weeds and such to sell anything for the money we needed,she was
such an embarrassment.There was this one day during elementary school.I remember that it was field day,and my mom
came.I was so
embarrassed.How
could she do this to me?
I threw her a hateful look and ran out.The next day at school..."Your mom only has one eye?!" and they
taunted me.
I wished that my mom would just disappear
from this world so I said to my mom, "Mom,why don't you have the
other eye?! You're only going to make me a
laughingstock. Why don't you just die?" My
mom did not respond. I
guess I felt a little bad,but at the same time,it
felt good to think that I had said what I'd wanted to say all this
time.
Maybe it was because my mom hadn't punished me,but I didn't think that I had
hurt her feelings very badly.
That night...I woke up,and went to the kitchen
to get a glass of water.My mom was crying
there,so quietly,as if she was afraid that she might wake me.I took
a look at her,and then turned away. Because of the thing I had said
to her earlier, there was something pinching at
me in the corner of my heart.Even so,I hated my mother who was crying out of her one
eye.So I told myself that I would grow up
and become successful,because I hated my
one-eyed mom and our desperate poverty.
Then I studied really hard.I left my mother and came to Seoul and
studied,and got
accepted in the Seoul University with all the
confidence I had. Then,I got married.I bought a
house of my own,I had kids too.Now I'm living happily as a successful man.I like it
here because it's a place that doesn't remind me
of my mom.
This happiness was getting bigger and
bigger,when someone
unexpected came to see me "What?! Who's this?!"... It was my
mother...Still with her one eye.It felt as if the whole sky was falling
apart on me.My little girl ran away, scared of my mom's eye.And I asked her, "Who
are you? I don't know you!!!" as if I tried to
make that real.I
screamed at her "How dare you come to my
house and scare my daughter! Get out of here
now!" And to this,my
mother quietly
answered, "oh, I'm so sorry.I may have gotten the wrong address," and she
disappeared.Thank goodness... she doesn't
recognize me.I was quite relieved.I told
myself that I wasn't going to care,or think
about this for the rest of my life.
Then a wave of relief came upon me,one day,a letter regarding a
school reunion came to my house. I lied to my wife saying that I was
going on a business trip.After the reunion,I
went down to the old shack,that I used to call a house...just out of
curiosity there,I found my mother fallen on the
cold ground. But I did not shed a single tear.
She had a piece of paper in her hand...it was a
letter to me.My Son,I think my life has been
long enough now. And,I won't visit Seoul anymore... but would it
be too much to ask if I wanted you to come
visit me once in a while?.I miss you so much,And I was so glad when
I heard you were
coming for the reunion.But I decided not to go
to the school,For you...
I'm sorry that I only have one eye,and I was an embarrassment
for you.
You see,when you were very little,you got
into an accident, and lost your eye. As a mother,I couldn't stand
watching you having to
grow up with only one eye,so I gave you mine.I was so proud of my son that was seeing a whole new
world for me,in my
place,with that eye.I was never upset at you
for anything you did.
The couple times that you were angry with
me.I thought to
myself,'it's because he
loves me.' I miss the times when you were still young around me.
I miss you so much.I
love you.You mean the
world to me.....My world shattered! Then I cried for the person who
lived for me,my Mother........
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