Hariraya- To Forgive and Forget.

Hariraya is supposedly a time for you to enjoy the moment of happiness being with family members , relatives and visiting friends to ask for forgiveness and to forgive any wrong doings in the past.

Though I always thought that you don't have to wait for only on Hariraya to do it coz if you are conscious with your well-being and understand the basic fundamentals of courtesy it can become a habitual thing that you do everyday.

When I was young my parents always reminded me to respect the elderly no matter who they are and never underestimate anyone coz you'll never know that one day you might need their help. This thought has been with me and since then I despise people who are rude to the elderly. I do believe that if you don't respect the elderly no matter who you are or what you are - you are nothing.

I'm writing this because it happened infront of my eyes during this raya in an open house. A group of middle aged intellectuals from various high ranking position in their jobs one of them were the host were busy talking among themselves and didn't even notice an elderly lady with her husband coming into the house. They were greeted by the hosts uncle and was seated in the other lounge.

I was just observing this group of people who couldn't care less about the existence of the couple and carried on talking and gigling loudly.

The couple seated for an hour in the lounge and kept asking for the host and wondering where she was. Then the uncle went and told the host to go and greet the couple but she just kept on talking to her friends.

Finally the couple was about to leave then they saw the host and went up to her to 'salam' the muslim traditional way. The host just sat there and didn't even stand up to show her respect but just coldly shook hands with the couple.

I felt so bad for the couple. It's hariraya and how could this happen. We're supposed to make our guests feel welcome and what happen to our sense of humanity and courtesy?

I hate to say this but if things are not done with sincerity then whats the point of doing it just for the sake of just doing it?

So I went back home and had a long private talk to my kids to make sure they understood the same thing I did ....back when I was at their age....