Online Reporter
THIS piece is nothing, but tears from my heart put into words.
Yours Truly must confess, at first, wanted to rebuke this man for failing to maintain his lavish standards — from a respected businessman to a mere villager — now living on the outskirts of our beloved city.
But the beauty of digging deeper when dealing with human matters is that you unravel little-known truths that the world may never know.
Yours Truly is deeply agitated by what our dear brother is going through at a time when he should be enjoying the fruits of his hard labour.
He is now an old man, who worked hard, sending his children to expensive schools to secure their future. If you know that very affluent school where parents accompany their children on opening day in helicopters — that school whose name has something to do with rivers — then you will understand the kind of love this gentleman had for his children.
The list of luxuries he afforded them is endless.
He was into buying and supplying, what is now commonly called bridging transactions.
He is a former city father for our local authority. At one point he dealt in school furniture and stationery. He was a regular imbiber at that popular watering hole, whose name has something to do with automobiles.
Perhaps Blabber needs to add his ‘yellow bone’ complexion for you to know exactly who he is blabbering about.
Somewhere along the way, things fell apart. He divorced. Their upmarket house was sold and the proceeds shared. The other property he had registered in his first-born child’s name was taken away, and in all probability, given to the mother, because the children now believe their father is so evil that he deserves nothing — not even that which he toiled for.
What pains Blabber most is how the children handled their parents’ divorce.
They took sides with their mother, and neglected their father, believing he abused their mother.
While Blabber cannot defend our brother or exonerate him on that score, Yours Truly firmly believes children must never be dragged into, nor take sides in their parents’ disputes.
Yes, a parent may have shortcomings — some very serious — but the bottom line is he or she remains your parent. For those who go to church, no further elaboration on the Biblical teaching in this regard is necessary.
Yes, our dear brother has his weaknesses, some of which we also know, including his failure to deal fairly with business partners and fiery temper. He did not pay those who facilitated lucrative deals for him. He spoiled potentially profitable deals, even for close associates. Blabber has a living example, but that is a story for another day.
He was wrong.
Even after all this, Blabber still sees him as a brother.
Blabber still respects him, even in his darkest hour — something his children should learn to do.
Parents are never elected, and parents will never change, no matter how much you wish them away. They remain our parents. They endured a lot for us to be where we are, and for that reason alone, we must continue to love and respect them.
After all, we are children growing up to be parents ourselves. We will one day shed tears on our parents’ graves if we treat them the way these children are treating their father.
Those with ears have heard!
