A child has just been born, with nothing left in his hands other than weak breaths and small cries, but has been hugged, cared for and cared for by his mother.
A mother loves her child not because she is beautiful, good, or virtuous, but simply because she is her child. That is love that seems unconditional. But is it really like that?
A child also knows that there are things that make them happy, make them sad, and have things that disappoint them. If one day, we are no longer the child that our mother expected - not good at studying, not yielding, not listening - will that love change or not?
In the famous literary work Khong gia dinh by writer Hector Malot, the boy Bemi was adopted and sold by his family when they could no longer afford to raise him. Love, no matter how sincere, has limits when facing real burdens.
Or as in the novel The Co gia by writer Paulo Coelho, a father who loves Santiago, but that love also includes the desire for his son to follow a stable and safe path, instead of pursuing a dream of wandering. Even mothers who love their children often want to control them, want them to be the version that they feel best. That is not a condition?
We do not blame mothers, because their love is not the love of a Saint but of a person - a person with very ordinary expectations, fears and limits. I was worried when we chose a difficult path, I was sad when we did not follow her wishes. But the important thing is, even if there is disappointment and pain, I am still there.
Maybe you will get angry, you will scold me, but in the end, you still hold your hand and welcome me back. The conditions of that love, if any, are not to bind but to protect. A mother can force her child to do this or avoid that, not out of selfishness but because she believes it is the best way for her child to be happy.
Love in this world, if you look at it closely, is rarely completely unconditional. Even kindness between people is rarely absolute - at least, we hope to receive a little gratitude or a sense of meaning for ourselves. That does not mean that love loses its value. On the contrary, it is because love has conditions that we know how to respect, preserve and strive to be worthy of it.
