December 30, 2013
Honor You Father and Mother
There are interesting stories coming out of
China about parents suing their children for neglect, both for financial
support and emotional estrangement. One such story is about a 94-year-old half-blind
woman who lives in a dark, damp, and cluttered storage space. Her only bathroom
is waste-can beside her bed, which is too heavy for her to empty. Her sons
protest that they are too old and poor to care for their mother, and the
daughter-in-law is painted as a shrew. There really is no excuse for the
children’s elder abuse; however I remind myself that this is the mother who
raised these uncaring men. The story also reveals that the mother was widowed in
a previous marriage, but her mother-in-law at the time set her free, releasing
her from the care giving obligation. I was reminded of Ruth, who too was set
free by her mother-in-law. Unlike the Chinese woman, Ruth chose to continue her
care giving responsibilities regardless of the gift of freedom. The outcome of each story is dramatic and
eye-opening.
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1 comment:
Gail;
-----We will drive a car even though it gets a couple dents and a scratch or two. We’ll drive it beyond the few drips of oil it leaves where we park it. And we’ll drive it though the windows roll up and down slowly, the indoor mirror adjustment levers break, and maybe even though the rear window defroster fails. If you’re practical, you’ll drive the car even when a perfectly good windshield wiper needs held in place with bailing wire and the suspension pops and rattles over any roadway less than smooth. I’ve seen cars on the road smoking like the Marlboro Man, knocking worse than Ringo Starr, and running with at least one dead cylinder. Conditions in this world are not perfect. And the worse conditions get, the more problems people must endure.
-----The poor old Chinese woman’s two codger sons and the shrew are not by themselves to blame for her living conditions. For sure they have the better part of the blame. Yet, although I am not of Hillary Clinton’s political ilk for centrally controlling the village, I do agree that it takes a village to raise a child. Or maybe it would be better stated, “Regardless of the home’s efforts, the village will have its effect upon the home’s child.” And all the people of the village are children of the village’s homes.
-----Culture is like that car. The village’s culture can be very healthy indeed, not allowing such conditions to exist in one of its homes for one of its citizens. If it were a very, very healthy village, such disallowance would not be by law, but merely by the compassionate sentiments of well cultured village folks. No doubt the codgers would then be so cultured as to properly care for their mamma, and the shrew would be a mouse at the worst. But the more things go wrong with the car, the more limited it’s service gets. I’m yet driving an old Bronco that’s missing a tooth on its reverse gear. I just don’t go anywhere which might require me to back up unless it is absolutely necessary. But other conditions, like a dead miss in a cylinder, can render service to be nearly useless. And China’s villages have been worse than even that.
-----The sentiments of collectivism are hell for the individual. Individuals are disposable. And even if folks disagree with such totalitarian and collectivist promoted bilge, they are nearly forced to live by disgraceful standards because such societies produce hardly enough for mere survival. They truly are cars with so many systems having gone bad or failed that they have barely the ability to run, let alone instill any thought of having enough for helping another. China might well be experiencing economic success from its experiments with limited capitalism and freedoms, but have no doubt, these two codgers, the shrew, and the old mamma are al Mao’s kids, village raised to be junk cars.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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