Respect for parents
I believe that we need to respect our parents no matter what. No matter how they are or what they did. The fact that they are parents and we are family make them be worthy of that respect.
Something that make me believe in that was the story of my dad and his dad.
I don't remember my parents talking to us, his children, about our grandparents from our dad’s side. But one day, me and my brothers, being in our early teens asked our father where our grandfather had been all these years.
My Dad told us the saddest story that we have ever heard in our family. He told us that when he was about 18 years of age, he lived with his parents and his siblings in a village called Chameleconcito, Honduras. His father was a farmer and my grandmother was a stay at home mom. All their 7 children and parents lived in a small house of only one bedroom, where the children slept on the floor and the parents were the only ones to sleep on a bed. His father was a very heavy drinker and smoker. He would get drunk every night after work and I'm not sure how many cigarettes he would smoke daily.
One day my grandfather came home drunk and he went to sleep on his bed. when the night came everyone else was also asleep. after a while of being asleep, my father hear a screaming. It was my grandmother screaming for help. It was midnight and there was no electricity. Everything was dark. My father woke up scared and frightened, he approached the bed. As he got nearer to the bed, he saw the image of my grandfather over my grandmother choking her.
My grandfather was screaming at her, that he knew that she was cheating on him with another man. My dad fought him so that he would let her go. He had to physically hit him several times until he finally got his father to react and finally let her go. When he finally let go of my grandmother it was too late, she was dead. My grandfather was taken to jail, where he was for about 15 years. The next day my dad went to see him. He saw him behind bars, sitting on a small bed looking very confused. When my grandfather saw my dad, he said, “son, thank goodness your came, why am I here? why am I locked up?”. My dad replied, “oh dad, do not remember what you did?" My grandpa didn't remember a thing. My father didn't want to tell him what he had done. He just consoled him telling him to get some rest, and he begged him to stop drinking.
My dad went every day to visit my grandfather and always took him food. My uncles didn't visit him for a very long time because they were mad and angry with him because of what he had done to their mother. My dad was mad with them for not visit their dad.
When my dad finished we asked him with a slightly annoyed tone: “And you, why would you go visit him and help him? You should have left him there alone, he killed your mother.”.
It was there where I heard in a few and simple words, one of the most poignant, full of truth, respect, powerful, and the best description of the love of our Heavenly Father has for us, that I have heard.
His answer remained deeply rooted in me, and broadened my understanding of how the heart of my earthly Father really was and of my Heavenly Father.
My father in a tone of reprimand, with a firm voice and a little disappointment because of the harsh and unforgiving words of his children said: "and why not, he’s my father". He then explained to us that no matter what my grandfather had done, that didn't change the fact that he was his father, who had given his life and therefore he was indebted to him forever. My dad took that moment to tell us, still a little upset by harshness of our question, that a child should always honor their parents no matter what, (and vice versa) merely because the family bond that unites them. That day I understood better the father of the prodigal son, and recognized how fast I was to act like the older brother. With that short sentence I understood why we are commanded to love God above all things. The reason is that He is our Father, he give us life and that make us indebted to Him forever. Most when our Heavenly Father have been a perfect Father. We just have not only love unconditionally our earthly and Heavenly parents but our brothers and neighbor, too. The reason is because all the human raze (and spirits) are family, and that bond that unites us is a strong enough reason to perform, without stammering, our duty to love and care for one another.
