What Grandma Said

What Grandma Said...

In Yvette Abadi’s blog-post Taking Control she depicts the way in which children are forced to take care of their parents.  There are times when the roles need to switch making the young mature and the old childish.  This happens when Billy ages, and unwillingly, her daughter Barbara takes care of him. “Oh my G-d, you are a child. If we leave you alone here you’ll freeze to death, you’ll starve to death.” What hurts me the most is that she uses an irritated tone. My grandma works in an old folks home, and she is very fond of old people. She always says: “One father can sustain 10 children, but 10 children can’t sustain one father”.  This is actually true, and I have evidence in my own family where my grandmother’s siblings (7) abandon and are careless about their parent’s wellbeing, having my mom take care of them even though they’re not her parents.

I cannot imagine what being old, alone, and sick can be like. It’s hard enough to be living under this condition, and having people being irritated by you or abandoning you will always make it worst.  I believe that we should display affection and appreciation to our parents, and this should happen at the moment where they need it the most, that is at the third age. Besides this, we should individually feel grateful for not only bringing us into the world, but also giving us our life in the best possible way.

I see it as a compensation system, having something and then returning it. In your childhood, these people take care of you in the best possible way and are generally always there to support you. There is a point in life when both are mature and stable enough to live completely independently. However, there also comes a point where the parent can’t live independently and need help, this issue becomes each time worst. It is at this point that the compensation comes in… it works like a bank loan. This afternoon I got pair of TOMS shoes. For the purchase of a pair, they give a pair of shoes to a random person in the world who needs it. This as well is compensation, for me the world needs these types of things to mantain a balance.