This story is a shame. Its posted below. A father and son who were estranged when the son was only 5 years old. The son didn't think his dad cared much about him. Only after the father passed away did the son realize how important he was to his father.
The father apparently never expressed his feelings for his son. What a shame they didn't communicate better. What a loss for both. And that loss can never be recovered. Even though they didn't speak the same language, the son's mother spoke both languages and would have been happy to translate for them. In fact, she would probably have loved to translate for them.Don't let this happen to you. If you have a family member you're currently not on speaking terms with, find a way to bridge the gap. Life is short and death is final (at least the one in this body). How much better would you feel if you didn't have this burden? Are you truly happier not talking? Would you feel good about yourself if you were the one to break the ice and make an attempt to patch things up?
What do we regret more, the things we did or the things we didn't do? You can apologize for things you've done if you made a mistake and make amends. You can apologize for what you didn't do too, but the fulfilled life is probably filled with more good intentioned "did's" than wimped out "did not's". If you're like me, you regret the things you wanted to do or could have done but didn't do more than the things you did but could have done better.
You can prevent these regrets from your future by making a promise to yourself that when you hear yourself saying "nah, I don't think so", you'll look inside and ask why not. If its because you're scared, or lazy, or don't want to risk embarrassment, then find the strength and courage to say yes.
The father in this story must have caused himself a lot of internal conflict and pain because he couldn't tell his son he loved him. Not to mention the needless pain he caused his son. What a shame. Here's the story (you can click on it to enlarge it):
