By: Ely Lagajino
Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you. Exodus 20:12 (NKJV)
Our grandparents adopted all five of us siblings after our father’s death when we were still very young. I remember how Lola taught us to process cacao beans into a sweet chocolate drink with milk, together with pandesal for breakfast. On summer days, she encouraged us to watch basketball tournaments in the nearby Chinese auditorium.
We honor, respect, and love our Lola as our second mother. When grandfather died, the four of us were distributed to our aunties while our youngest brother stayed with my mother.
While, I was in grade four we heard the sad news. Lola suffered from a stroke and fell into a comma. The doctor said it might take three months before she could recover. The family decided to pull me out from school to run errands for my mother who looked after my Lola in the hospital. All my aunties went back to work. I love school, but I love my Lola more than anything else.
The fifth commandment on a broader sense says honor thy father and thy mother including the elderly such as our grandparents, auntie’s and uncles, foster parents, and teachers. It requires children to respect, obey, love, and comfort them in their old age. (PP p.325)
If children are taught early in life to obey and honor their parents, there would be no killers, adulterers, thieves, and liars. Premature death would be avoided. Obeying this commandment builds good habits and a character that promotes long life.