When blood runs deeper than water

I suddenly remembered something.

I never told my mother the truth. In fact, I think she still does not know. Her younger brother was robbed by the street a few years ago. He was just walking in his neighbourhood when he was ambushed by this group of armed bandits. I don't know if he tried to put up a fight, or if these men were just violent... but from what I heard, he almost lost his entire arm after being chopped with a 'parang'... he was hospitalized, and his arm nearly amputated.

At the time we learnt about it, my mother was not doing too well herself. She was in the midst of hospitalization in the psychiatric ward. We were informed by none other than our aunt, her younger sister.

At the time, my brother and I decided that the best thing to do was not to tell her anything about the matter. She was still emotionally unsettled. How would she react if she found out ther brother nearly lost an arm? We didn't know how she felt about her siblings, or if she still felt any love towards them at all.

Personally, I have had absolutely NO RELATIONSHIP with any of my relatives on my mothers side. My mother was raised by her cousins and uncles, while all her younger siblings were raised wtih their step mother and their family. In that sense,my mother was never really close to them in the first place. As a family, the only times we would see my uncle and aunties were during Chinese new year. It didn't seemed like they really cared about us anyway. In our darkest times, when my mother lived alone, when my father left her, when we had no money or a place to live, we were abandoned, and kicked out at one time.

Still, people say blood is thicker than water; family remains family no matter what happens. I felt so sorry when I heard about my uncle. Its not something I would wish for anyone in this world, even people I hated. What more a person related to me by blood.

We did talked a few times about her sibling, but I conveniently side stepped the issue and talked about other things. Part of me felt that it would be a bit of a cruel blow to her, part of me felt that they didn't deserve the kind of concern she would probably have for them. They were all missing in our darkest times, they all no where to be seen even as my mother lived for 7 years alone.. and they lived just a nearby or at the most an hours drive away. What kind of siblings were these? The kind no worth having that's what.

Maybe its wrong of me.. Maybe its not really my place to decide what to tell and what to hide from people who are my elder. I don't know. Since she's a bit more settled and stable now.... maybe its about time I break the news to her.