Don’t let your parents beg!

Two days ago I went to the market. And as is unfortunately the custom at the market gates, older people stand with their hands outstretched and beg. My heart breaks with pity when I think that these old women were once as young as we are. They had dreams, beautiful goals for life. Some of them worked for the good of society, others have children they have not seen for many years.

Then the question arises, how did they end up with their hands outstretched at the market gates? Do they feel good about doing this? No, they don’t like it at all.

When I entered the market I thought only of that old woman who begged passers-by to have mercy on her for some pennies. Turning back, I started talking to her. And for a few minutes she told me her whole story, and how she came to beg. She lived a lifetime working for her children. That none of them should lack anything, that everyone should have a place in her home? how the old woman expressed herself. Now she is left alone, her husband has died, and she carefully saves her pension so that she can get a foreign passport and visit her daughters before she dies. Asking her when she was last visited by her children, she told me with tears in her eyes that about 10 years had passed, and her only wish is to see them again. And then she thanked me for listening to her and for brightening her day. Of course I gave her some money, but I left after this discussion with a bitter taste. I kept thinking about the parents who invest their lives in their children, and will all parents be rewarded according to the investments made?

God’s Word tells us to take care of our parents. And one of the ten commandments is, “Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be prolonged on the land which the Lord your God gives you.”

When I took the Lord’s command seriously, every time we went home we bought something. In this way I built a very beautiful relationship with my parents. This is the only commandment accompanied by a promise. We will have a long life in the land where God put us. Let’s not allow our parents to beg, to become like the old women at the market gates.

Translated by Didina Vicliuc