Love

Many people have the misconception that I’m from a rich family. Well let me tell you now, I’m not. I’m poorer than you. When I say this I’m really not trying to portray modesty. I mean it when I say it.

My dad had a major setback in his career and is now at the verge of bankruptcy. My mom is currently trying to make a living for the family by running a hawker stall in a Chinese food-court.

When I was in the car w my mom on the way to the food-court, I asked,

YgGuo: ‘Mi, how much are you earning from this?’

Mother: ‘About 150 to 200 ringgit a day?’

200 Ringgit. That’s 9 hours of toil and sweat from a loving mother in exchange for granting her son a meal at any decent Chinese restaurant in the UK.

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The other day I sat down at my desk thinking of writing to my family to tell them how much I love them. Instead, I thought of how each and every one of them has detached themselves from all sorts of luxuries to support my living expenses in the UK.

Not surprisingly, I winded up being overwhelmed by just how much they love me.

It’s so easy to talk about love, but how many of us have really put forth the effort to weld those words together as we speak of love? I can’t remember when the last time I did something nice for my family was. I was too young to comprehend their subtle ways of loving me. They never told me how much trouble it was to look after me.

Mother Teresa once said, ‘The success of love is not in the result of loving but to want the best for the other person.’ That’s indisputably true. Despite my previous relationships have been ultimate failures, my devotion to my exes has accorded me a different kind of happiness. It has once meant something to someone.

No wonder we are all screwed up. We let people into our deepest core and allow them to uncover our true selves for the sheer thought of being someone’s someone.

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Once I caught a glimpse of my mom from my car squatting by the roadside while washing some dirty dishes. After parking my car I quickly got down and offered to help. However, she flatly rejected my offer and said,

‘You’d stink.’

And proceeded to cook me a nice bowl of fish ball noodles w additional ingredients in it. In that split moment, my heart cracked.

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Love manifests parents who forgo their sleep to look after their kids; lovers who send cards to express their affection; friends who stand by each other during bad times. However all of them have no intrinsic value at all as love cannot be measured.

Whether it’s a love card sent from another continent or a simple morning text the value lies in the fact that we all look beyond our own needs and welfare to look out for others whom we cherish. After all, love inspires us to better ourselves in every way to provide for those we love.

I am truly amazed at what love can do. I am amazed at how much I’ve grown under their perpetual love, how much I’ve changed from a rebel against my family to a loving son.

I am eager to find love. I cant wait to show someone the love I have inside of me.

And, to make that person feel happy.