The Person I Admire The Most

My father who is generally niggardly with praise is extremely generous where our mother is concerned. He spoke of her once as selfless, sacrificial, and devoted and to this, I would like to add: helpful and understanding. It is not unusual for us teenagers to run into little problems and then to boggle at them. Whatever we do, she is there solidly with us to help us. I am convinced that one of the greatest boons in life is to have a devoted, selfless, helpful mother. I have. Definitely, she is the person I admire most in this world.

There is no gap separating us. children, from our mother and we do not create that artificial barrier called the ‘generation gap’. To her, I am an open book and, as a rule. I do not pry into her personal problems if at all she has any. She speaks little and has a patient ear for our rigmarole. Our conversation, often one-sided, can be long and topics may range from the pranks of my little sister to something new in chemistry that I learned at school.

A quality that I admire most in her is her selfless devotion to us. Her own interests are of little importance to her where ours are involved. The meals will be ready at the time we need them. She will forego a good night’s sleep without a murmur, nursing us when we are ill. Her personal possessions are meager and they have to be so. In her scheme of things, our interests come first. The little ornaments we wear today were hers. In the knowledge of fashions, she seems to excel over us. She seems to take secret delight in seeing us fashionably dressed.

My mother has an undeclared philosophy and that is to use to the full one’s abilities and she practices rather than preach it. In spite of all the domestic chores, she finds time to read, and often she reads books that have educational value. She knows a lot about child psychology and now-adolescent psychology. The culinary art for her is something that is to be continually developed. She avidly reads health magazines in order to regulate our intake of vitamins and minerals. She keeps abreast of developments, both national and international, and is particular about reading the newspapers early in the morning.

She believes that our ties with relatives and friends should be maintained and makes it a point to visit them at regular intervals. Since my father fights shy of people not so close to him, it is our lot to accompany her when she wants to visit someone. Perhaps she needs one of us as an escort, partly because tradition requires it; it could also be because she is timid. When visiting, she ably exchanges niceties and invites them all home as if we do not give her the company she needs.

My mother does not have a blacklist of don’ts. She gives us freedom of speech and action; but ensures, by what she does, that responsibility is not dissociated from freedom. At times, when we get on her nerves, she keeps a statue-like silence, and the little things we do to please her and to make her break this vow of silence seem to have a good sudden effect. She does not compete with us in any way and she does not believe in forcing us to study. Perhaps she feels that we would emulate her and that all she wants us to do is our best. She does not wait eagerly at the gate to know our position in class and she learns of our performance in the examination only when we. with a certain amount of pretended modesty, present our report cards for her signature.

To our father, she is secretary, companion, domestic accountant – all rolled into one. Her devotion to him is typically oriental and at times it would appear that her only goal in life is his and our happiness. It is not unusual for him to run into a bad temper and my mother’s moderating influence has a good effect. He seldom talks to us, but his mother as his secretary keeps him informed of our activities. My father is appreciative of her loyalty and devotion to us and as I said earlier he is rather extravagant in praising her motherly and other qualities.

Perhaps my mother does have her own share of weaknesses but I am not conscious of them. To me, she is as close to perfection as anything in the world can be. I believe that in any family, it is the mother that keeps the members of the family happy and together. In my family, she succeeds amply.