Disable Doesn’t Mean Unable

My mother, Rosie F. Hilario, is always fighting for her rights as a woman and as a mother. She was born deaf and cannot hear or speak well. Despite her condition, she managed to take care of my half-sister Rosyl, my sister Rea, and myself.

                My mother was 27 when she moved in with my father. They were happy – at least in the beginning. As I grew up, I increasingly observed my father coming home late and he was almost always drunk. I also saw him hitting my mother. I felt so sorry for mum but there was nothing I could do to help as I was still a kid.

                I was in year four when my father completely abandoned us. Although she was devastated, my mother was determined to give us decent life. She never finished elementary school as she was the sixth of 12 children and they were very poor. She knew what it was like to not have an education and she didn’t want any of her children to experience what she had been through.

                Despite her disability and with no academic background, she applied to be a beautician at a local salon in Kalibo, Aklan, and was accepted. To make ends meet, she also took on other jobs such as washing clothes for other people.

                When I was in high school, she started saving money in a coin bank, putting in her spare change, ranging from two to 20 pesos. Her customers, instead of receiving their change, would also put money into the coin bank. At the start of the school year, she would be used to buy school supplies for other children.

                She inspires other kids by showing them my achievements, however small they are. When I graduated from college, she was very proud and happy. She almost cried when I introduced her to my friends during my graduation. “This is my mother and I am very proud of her,” I told them.

                My mother is now 49 years old and she is our inspiration. She used to say, “If we only have only faith in God, we will enjoy life to the fullest despite all the worries we have to face each day.”

Reflection:

You surely will want to hug your mother tight and smother her with kissed after reading this article.

The narrative reflects the selfless devotion of a mother to her family and was chosen to be published in the May issue of Reader’s Digest.

As we all know, May is the month we celebrate Mother’s Day.

A huge thanks to Anna M. Jarvis we had a special day to honor mothers.

All mothers simply want their children to have a good life.

If they could shield their children from all sorts of pain, I am certain they would do it without a doubt.

Unfortunate to say, most people neglect their mothers.

Or, a more appropriate term, take them for granted.

Probably because, they always see them.

They always hear their concern.

They always feel their love.

And, more probably because, they never complain.

Or, if they rarely would, out of exhaustion,

They still won’t  stop caring and thinking of our welfare.

They are like robots programmed to love us forever.

But, we forget, that they are not robots.

They are humans who get hurt and feel pain.

The narrative reawakened my sensibilities.

And, i hope to others as well.

We never know when they will be taken away from us,

So let us not just be remember them every second week of May.

It should be every day of our entire lives!

They are the reason of our existence.

Without their selfless sacrifice, we wouldn’t be who we are and where we are.