When people ask me about my mum, strangers aka taxi drivers especially, they look at my mum in disbelief.
Here's how it normally goes in the taxi ride home.
Usually, they'll ask me what time she goes to work,
I will reply 4am to 7pm
Who helps her at the canteen?
No one, either me or my cousin will come at 6pm to help her with the evening crowd.
Ask if she make good profit each day, I answered the truth, that we managed to get by with what we have.
Ask why wouldn't I help her and that if I am working... I replied, I'm still schooling and usually they will give me this WTF-you're-still-schooling face of which I reply I'm in NUS then they go ouh..good good..but I can see it in their faces wondering how the hell my mum pays for my education considering the situation she is in.
When they attempt to talk to her and she don't reply, I have to tell them that she's deaf and mute so no way can she reply nor understand them
Ask where's my father, I will have answer the same thing that he left when I was a baby.And they will go on and on, on how a man should be responsible.
Sometimes they realised my mum walks with a limp, so I told them she has 3 hugeass varicose ulcers on her legs for the past 10 years , etc etc.
I always see it in their face, their sympathy for her, for us. One taxi driver just now even told me repeatedly that I should take care of her. Make her retire soon. She's old and watnot. And how he was whispering under his breath like.. oh my God, so kesian
Here's the thing, as much as people consider my mum to be their sob story.. I don't think my mum even know that she's really what people think she is, that she needs sympathy. My mum doesn't need sympathy. She's strong as hell. She's resilient.She's stubborn. She's very opinionated. My mum is like every other mum. Nothing sets her apart. She sees herself as normal person... And for that I am grateful to her. I never see it as if I have a disabled or handicapped mother. Nothing about her is handicapped or disabled. Have you even seen my mother?! My friends would know she's nothing like that, heck she is even louder that any normal mother. Whatever I am today is because of her. I am strong because she taught me so. I know at times, I complained of giving up,giving in. But when I look at her and see how much she has gone through, the abuse, the discrimination, the pain. It jolts me, thinking how blessed I am to have her as my role model.
So spare us the sympathy. It's support that we need. Don't look at my mum thinking she's some sob story you normally see on TV. She's one heck of a woman and she's just like everyone else, only stronger and more resilient.Because I believe in one thing, God is fair. For anything that a person lacks, God gave that person everything else.
Hanim