A Poem to Share

It's the end of Week 3 of the school vacation. As I was reorganising some worksheets at my workstation, our school counsellor passed a very nice piece of article. It came from www.cgcreations.org/poems/courtesy.html. The title of the poem is

Our Kids Deserve Common Courtesy Too! The author is unknown.

I ran into a stranger as he passed by,
"Oh, excuse me Please" was my reply.

He said, "Please excuse me too;
Wasnt' even watching for you."

We were very polite, this stranger and I.
We went on our way and we said goodbye.

But at home, a different story is told,
How we treat our loved ones, young and old.

Later that day, cooking the evening meal,
My daughter stood beside me very still.

When I turned, I nearly knocked her down.
"Move out of the way," I said with a frown.

She walked away, her little heart was broken.
I didn't realise how harshly I'd spoken.

While I lay awake in bed,
God's still small voice came to me and said,

"While dealing with a stranger, common courtesy you use,
But the children you love, you seem to abuse.

Look on the kitchen floor,
You''ll find some flowers there by the door.

Those are the flowers she brought for you.
She picked them herself : pink, yellw and blue.

She stood quietly not to spoil the surprise
and you never saw the tears in her eyes."

By this time, I felt very small,
and now my tears began to fall.

I quietly went and knelt by her bed;
"Wake up, little girl, wake up," I said.

"Are these the flowers you picked for me?"
She smiled, "I found 'em, out by the tree.

I picked 'em because they're pretty like you.
I knew you'd like 'em, especially the blue."

I said, "Daughter, I'm sorry for the way I acted today;
I shouldn't have yelled at you that way."

She said, "Oh, Mom, that's okay. I love you anyway."
I said, "Daughter, I love you too, and I do like the flowers, especially the blue."


This very simple poem sets me thinking about how some of us actually treat our colleagues, friends and strangers with more courtesy than towards our own family members. I guess sometimes, we take them for granted as we are so close to them.

It's never too late to remember our thank yous and pleases when we communicate with our own parents and siblings and our own children. It's not late to start right now!! A simple good morning when we wake up and a simple thank you or please can really make our lives better and make the family a happier environment to be in.