The Missing Rib

A girl in love asked her boyfriend.

Girl: Tell me. Who do you love most in this world?

Boy: You, of course!

Girl: In your heart, what am I to you?

The boy thought for a moment and looked intently in her eyes and said, "You are my rib. It was said that God saw that Adam was lonely. Hence, when Adam was sleeping, God took one of his rib and created Eve. Ever since then, every man has been searching for his missing rib. It is said that only when you find the woman of your life then you'll no longer feel the lingering ache in your heart."

The girl was extremely touched at his reply. Before long, there were married. After their wedding, the couple had a sweet and happy life for a while. However, the youthful couple began to drift apart due to the busy schedules in their lives and the never ending worries of daily problems. Their life became mundane. All the challenges posed by the harsh realities of life began to gnaw away their dreams and love for each other. The couple began to have more quarrels and each quarrel became more heated.

One day, after a particularly heated quarrel, the girl ran out of the house.

At the opposite side of the road, she shouted, "You don't love me!"

The boy hated her childishness and out of impulse retorted, "Maybe, it was a mistake for us to be together! You were never my missing rib!"

Suddenly, she turned quiet and stood there for a long while. He regretted what he said but the words spoken are like water that was thrown away, you can never take it back. With tears, she went home to pack her things and was determined to breakup.

Before she left the house she said, "If I'm really not your missing rib, please let me go."

She continued, "It is less painful this way. Let us go on our separate ways and search for our own partners."

Five years went by...

He never remarried but he had tried to find out about her life indirectly. She had left the country for a while but retuned eventually. She had married a foreigner and that relationship ended with a divorce. He felt anguished that she never waited for him.

In the dark and lonely night, he lit his cigarette and felt the lingering ache in his heart. He couldn't bring himself to admit that he was missing her.

One day, they finally met each other by chance at the airport, a place where there were many reunions and goodbyes. He was going away on a business trip. She was standing there alone. They were separated by the security door She smiled at him gently.

Boy: How are you?

Girl: I'm fine. How about you? Have you found your missing rib?

Boy: No.

Girl: I'll be flying to New York in the next flight.

Boy: I'll be back in 2 weeks time. Give me a call when you are back. You know my number. Nothing has changed.

With a smile, she turned around and waved goodbye.

Goodbye...

One week later, he heard of her death. She had perished in New York in the event that shocked the world on September 11.

Once again on another dark and lonely night, he lit his cigarette. And like before, he felt the lingering ache in his heart. He finally knew. She was the missing rib that he had carelessly broken. Sometimes, people say things out of moments of fury. More often than not, the outcome could be disastrous and detrimental. We vent our frustrations 99% of the time at our loved ones. And even though we know that we ought to "Think twice and act wisely", it's often easier said than done. Many of the things which happened each day are beyond our control. Let us treasure every moment and everyone in our lives. Tomorrow may never come. Give and accept what you have today

Parenting Guild: Parent-Child Relationship

Not getting along with a parent can be very painful emotionally. Even after you have grown into a mature one and found your own life, there is always a part that feels haunted by the bad relationship you have with one or both of your parents. I really envy those kids whose parents are open-minded with the kind of generation we have right now. Some parents are old-fashioned one- strict and the ego is always there that they are the parents then they are the rules.



When one does not feel fully accepted, love, understood or respected by a parent, there is an emptiness living inside you and while you may be able to move on with your life and find happiness, it is always preferred to have a close and healthy bond with your parents. Unfortunately, that does not happened into mine. Maybe I was bound to have an old-fashioned parents at all. So how can you find peace when you don't get along with a parent?How can you save a kind of relationship if a parent is a close minded person?And still stands being a parent and you are just his/her child?


Well, before you react see first where the problem begun. Some starts when you were born. If you are not getting along with your parents, it may help you feel better knowing that it is not your fault since you were just an infant that time. If it start from an early age when you as a child have no responsibility and what so ever, then most likely parents were not fit or ready to be a parent. 


In general, a good and healthy relationship and being a parent is one that -

1. Accepts the responsibility to be a parent. Never complains, there are a lot of parents that keeps on complaining. We, kids should know that and observed that as well.


2. Has the financial means to support a family- Obviously, this is prerequisite. Never dream to have a family if you can't support them at all. This will lead to bad relationship if you are not sophisticated enough in supporting your family.


3.Be fair enough. Fair enough with you children. Never have a special attention towards your elder/youngest one than your other children.


4. Has parenting knowledge though no one is an expert in this kind of degree of raising children and is a never ending learning experience yet a parent can achieve this kind of education if he/she has the passion to become a parent, open-minded in all aspects and the humbleness of being a parent.


5. Has a physical, emotional, and mental balance to engage with their children.


All of these factors can make a difference in our world today and with our new generation. In having a better understanding of their children, they can create proper tactics to educate a child and guide them lovingly in smooth manner and not in a painful one.


Take note that it is no one's fault to have differences. A child and parents must have differences to some degree but children should know how to understand and parents should always know how to accept and handle these differences. Remember to do your best and that there is a side you are not responsible for. Consider all aspects- use your heart along with your intellectuality. Let your mind and heart go as one. In this way, you can understand your children and the same goes with your kids.


Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body. It is the parents big role on how they will mold their children. They are the main factor in one's child growth.

To bring up a child in the way he should go, travel that way yourself once in a while. Your children need your presence more than your presents.If you must hold yourself up to your children as an object lesson, hold yourself up as a warning and not as an example. 


It is not only children who grow, parents do too. As much as you watch to see your children do with their lives, they are watching you as their parents on what you do with yours. You can't tell your children to reach for the sun. All you can do is reach for it, yourself.