괜찮아요

For those who still remember how one of our National Day songs (which happens to be one of my favourite NDP songs) titled ‘Home’ by Kit Chan (1998), I’m quite sure you like it as much as I do because of the lyrics…

The chorus:

This is Home, truly
Where I know I must be
Where my dreams wait for me
Where that river always flows
This is home, surely
As my senses tell me
This is where I won’t be alone
For this is where I know it’s home

This suddenly struck me as becoming false. Just ask around you how many would rather stay away from home (like would rather staying late in school than to return home early). Home is supposed to be a place where we find warmth, comfort and feel safe within its protection; it’s our shelter when it’s all too stormy out there. However, this idea has become more of a ‘will-only-happen-in-fairytales‘. People are starting to distrust that they would be able to find solace in the home setting.

Sad isn’t it? Home, a place which many have looked forward to owning and to build, is now just an empty shell with false promises and fantasy. Of course, it’s not as if the entire world is functioning this way, but far too many are slowly heading towards this direction.

Recently, I heard about this story whereby a teen came home late one day, and her parents, after being unable to contact nor find her through her friends for the whole day, were terribly upset and didn’t even bothered to listen to her explanation. They started to scold and beat her. She ran out of the door from up the stairs, from 4th storey to the 10th storey..

And the next thing you know, she had jumped from there.

Such a young life. Gone. She was feeling upset that particular day, after breaking up with her boyfriend, she decided to go for a walk to think things through, and went home, hoping to find comfort and warmth at home. However, without even starting to share her feelings, she was reprimanded and punished. Feeling wronged and unloved, she took her own life.

Frankly, I really think that at times, we are too quick for our own good. We are too quick to jump into conclusions and too quick to make assumptions about people/matters. Sometimes, won’t it be better if we actually take a step back, stay calm and think before we even open our mouths? Would it not be better if we listen to others first before we assume what we think the problem/real situation is? If a home, together with the family, cannot function well, then our children will start to look for love in all the wrong places and throw caution into the wind.