铅笔和橡皮擦

　　收到Wing Kin用电邮传来的一篇短文，讲述的是一段铅笔和橡皮擦的对话，带出父母对子女那种无私的爱。作者为此感叹，惊觉父母日渐衰老，最终留下的只是一些回忆，因而以此文向所有父母致敬。

Pencil: I’m sorry.

Eraser: For what? You didn’t do anything wrong.

Pencil: I’m sorry because you get hurt because of me. Whenever I made a mistake, you’re always there to erase it. But as you make my mistakes vanish, you lose a part of yourself. You get smaller and smaller each time.

Eraser: That’s true. But I don’t really mind. You see, I was made to do this. I was made to help you whenever you do something wrong. Even though one day, I know I’ll be gone and you’ll replace me with a new one, I’m actually happy with my job. So please, stop worrying. I hate seeing you sad.

I found this conversation between the pencil and the eraser very inspirational. Parents are like the eraser whereas their children are the pencil. They’re always there for their children, cleaning up their mistakes. Sometimes along the way, they get hurt, and become smaller / older, and eventually pass on. Though their children will eventually find someone new (spouse), but parents are still happy with what they do for their children, and will always hate seeing their precious ones worrying, or sad.

All my life, I’ve been the pencil. And it pains me to see the eraser that is my parents getting smaller and smaller each day. For I know that one day, all that I’m left with would be eraser shavings and memories of what I used to have.

This is to all the parents out there.

　　最近报章上好一些关于孝顺的讨论，这篇短文正好给予一些提醒。

　　父母的关爱子女和子女的孝顺父母，本来是一种发自内心、自然纯粹的亲情的展现，又何须立法规定呢？小时候读过乌鸦反哺的故事，乌鸦尚且懂得反哺，更何况是号称万物之灵的人呢？

　　制定奉养父母的法规，只能视之为处理现实情况的权宜之计。真正的解决方案，还是要从根本着手，回到人格教育的推行。