Last Friday we had mid autumn celebration in church. It has been a practice of our church to observe some Chinese culture and create a learning opportunity of the Chinese history. Prior to the celebration, some church members started to prepare the lanterns one week early for the event.
My daughter enjoyed watching the adults preparing the lanterns. Suddenly, she came to me and said she wanted the butterfly lantern. I told her that we have to wait till the event and answer the required question before getting one of the lanterns.
Throughout the whole week, she was mentioning and planning to be the first child to arrive church and answer the question of the riddle place on the butterfly lantern.
The day of the Mid Autumn celebration arrive. She got herself ready and arrive church very early. The riddle on the lantern was ‘what can be caught but cannot throw’. Do you know? After a while, with the help of her father, she found the answer – flu. She was so happy that she got her long waited lantern.
The night event was fun. Everyone enjoyed the activities until one of the lantern caught fire and totally burn out. Her friend, Eunice was so devastated and cried. It was her lantern. Some adults was putting off the fire while some try to pacify her. Suddenly the cry stop. I was not sure what help her to stop crying.
The next morning, my daughter came to me and we had the following conversation:
Daughter – “Mom, I did something good last night”.
Me – ” What was it?”
Daughter – “I gave away my butterfly lantern to Eunice”
Me – “Why do you do that?”
Daughter – “Her lantern was burnt and she was sad. I was very sad to see her cry so I gave her my lantern.”
Me – “You really did that? You waited for a week to get it. Why do you do so?”
Daughter – “I just want her to be happy.”
Wow! I’ve learnt a lesson from my daughter.
