THIS was a TV ad a few years ago: A little girl stares out of the window of an old car, looking lost and lonely, stares forlornly at her father and asks, “Why doesn’t anybody look at me dad?” Dear father is concerned! His heart reaches out to his beloved child; he rushes to the bank, empties his savings, goes to a car dealer and buys the biggest car available in the showroom. And then little girl is shown smiling in the big, fancy car as everyone on the road stares at her.
Is this the nonsense we allow our children to be fed on? We pay money to download software that will keep our kids away from pornography, we watch with concern and check to see what books they read, keep vigilant eye on the company they keep, and after all this, have them believing that the solution to being liked, or looked at is a big car! Imagine same girl growing up. “Father I have the best job in the industry, the biggest house, the wealthiest husband yet nobody likes me?”
“Maybe you got to get a better job, a bigger house and divorce this jerk and marry a richer guy,” says the father still driving old car, not having a bank balance to buy a fancier one after paying for daughter, dwelling and dowry, which is slowly turning him to despair, dejection and depression.
“Or maybe,” pipes the old mother as she looks at a lie that needs to be addressed, “Maybe being liked depends on what kind of person you are inside!” “What?” snarls angry daughter, “Pulling me down as usual isn’t it?”
“No beti,” says the normally subdued mother, “It’s time you were told that new car, new house and new husband will not change even for a moment what people think of you!” I wonder how many millions saw that ad? I can imagine a sales outlet of this car dealer: “Here’s another bakra coming with his little daughter!”
Ah what fools we are! It’s the summer holidays; take your child to the countryside, a village maybe, leave your fancy car at home. She will first stare at those simple children then slowly get dragged into their games, but more than that she will learn to make friends or lose friends because of good or bad behaviour. “Dad I made a friend today!” are words that will warm the cockles of your heart.
Watch friends come to your child with what they see in him or her rather than what he or she shows off outside! But why only your child? Are you expecting to make friends the same way?
