Let them Bloom

I remember one PTA meeting in my daughter’s school, many years ago when she was in secondary section.

The Principal gave her opening speech, and then she took out a piece of white paper, held it in her hand and told us that similar pieces of paper will be distributed amongst us parents. We were a bit confused and curious too as to what was the need of this piece of paper that the lady was talking about.

Anyhow, we had the paper in our hands, and then Sister told us, that each time, when our child fared badly in her exams, and each time we said…Oh, you are a failure…tear a piece out of the paper and let it drop. Tear a piece every time we told her that she was good-for-nothing…. the times when we rebuked her for not achieving the result 'We' wanted…..everytime we compared her to a friend, or a cousin, who we thought were shining examples of excellence, and our child wasn’t……Everytime we let her weep into her pillow at night, because she didn’t make her A grade.

After she had finished her speech, there wasn’t any paper left in her hand, neither was there  in ours. She was silent for sometime, and then she asked us if we knew what that piece of paper actually represented.  There was silence in the hall.She said then....that piece of paper was the Soul of our child, which lay tattered and torn around us that day. Everytime we try to make her into what we want her to be, and not accept her as she is, however she is, that tender soul is maimed and injured….and in not so few cases ever heal.

Today, I realize that meeting was such an eye opener for us parents. My daughter today, after completing her post –grad in English, is an editor with a renowned publication house. And believe me, she wasn’t an A class student in her school life…..but did that  make any difference?

All these memories came back to me today, because, in a few days, the results will be out for all the board exams. And it breaks my heart every morning the newspaper carries the stories of all those little souls whose hearts were broken as they didn’t know how to face the world…because their parents couldn’t give them that confidence…so they take the easiest way out, by ending their short tender life.

 Let our children bloom in all their glory…some vibrant in colour, some not….some with heady fragrances, some subtle……but Precious they all are.