Joys and Pains: Are You Busy, Dad?

"Family is not an important thing...it's everything." - Michael J. Fox

We go through life with much joy and pain, whether alone or with someone, situations and events that we experience on a daily basis, and at the end of the day you are either full of joy or in deep pain.

People often take HR work for granted. Thinking that it is any easy task that all we do is manage cases and do payroll. When in fact HR practitioners stretch their limits to cater to hundreds and even thousands of employees. We give in to almost every demand and have to say yes to each workload. We are selfless and committed. Which made me realize; if I could dedicate my time to each and every business need without much hesitation, looking after thousands of "children" in one site alone and making them happy...what reason is there for me not to do the same or even more for my own kids?

 None.

It pains me that when I'm home and my kids go to me, they would ask me first, are you busy? Are you working? I know I brought this upon myself the moment I decided to bring home my work. But it is inevitable. HR functions 24/7 in the industry that I am in and I chose this profession. It just pains me to tell Kian and Julia, "Sorry, daddy is talking to the office." or "Wait a minute, I'm just doing something on my office computer, let me finish first", where it came to a point that my 4-year old daughter tells me, "Dad, you're always working".

That is why no matter how tired I am after my graveyard shift, every chance I get to bring Kian to school in the morning, I grab it. Because these are moment where I can make up for lost time and no matter how painful the traffic may be, it brings me joy when I have these morning conversations with Kian about how he keeps telling me to buy a tank so we can run over traffic. How he would ask updates from me about his Clash of Clans and Boom Beach. These are games on his iPad, since he cannot use it during school days; so he gave me the task to upgrade his troops and townhall. And when I fail to do so, as any boss would do, I am asked why didn't you do your job. If I can stay up for anything, that definitely includes this.

Julia would often ask if she could watch cartoons in my room. Although it pains me knowing that if I say yes, I wouldn't get any sleep. And it pains to see her face when I do say no. And whenever I do fall asleep she gets irritated and tells me to stop snoring because she can't hear the TV. That is why no matter how many times she wakes me up just to tell me to stop snoring, I don't mind the pain since it brings me much joy to know that she is there not just watching TV, but watching over me.

Some people can debate all day that your work pays for your salary so you should put more focus on your work and not your kids. It is true that your children don't have the financial capability to pay your wages. But the Ultimate Boss, God, gave you these gifts, and you are tasked to take care of them "pro bono". (Try asking God for wages, when He actually paid for our sins.)

A couple of years ago a good friend and neighbor of mine passed away. His father hugged him one last time on the coroner's table. And when the coroner asked him to stop already, he simply asked for more time since he did not get the chance to hug him that much when he was younger because he was busy.

More often than not we make sacrifices for the greater good. We take risks, we push ourselves to live up to our commitments. And no matter how painful it is, physically or mentally, we get the job done. Because the joy that it brings us can never be measured. So the next time my bosses would ask me if I am busy....

"For you kids...Dad is never busy."