Lynn Ruth Miller: Be good to your parents…or else!
China has decided it is a punishable crime for adult children to neglect their parents, and I think that is a very wise decision. Wouldn’t it be wonderful for us all, if every nation followed suit?
It is about time someone took steps to stop the shameless way grown progeny are treating their parents these days.
Elderly parents sit at home in their wheel chairs or on the sofa, counting the moments ‘til one of their offspring remembers they are too weak and tired to get to Tesco; the hours tick by, their tummies gurgle, their heads ache and they stare at the door, praying it will open and the heir to their estate will appear bearing bubble and squeak and even a bit of pudding.
“Parents have every right to expect their children to be there for them”
After all, parents have every right to expect their children to be there for them. Didn’t they clean up Junior when he got a bloody nose? Didn’t they give their little princess dancing lessons so she could express her inner feelings? They let her get that disgusting tattoo of Frankenstein chewing a bunny and they never said a word when she appeared at the breakfast table, her hair dyed purple and three rings in her nose.
And that was before they became teenagers.
They looked the other way when their little darlings sold pot to the neighborhood grade-school kids, and the countless times they threw up on the couch from alcohol or got too affectionate with one another. Remember that?
Didn’t they sacrifice that extra cruise and the trip to see penguins copulate on an iceberg just so their son could go to university and their daughter could go to rehab? Of course they did.
And that is why the Chinese Government decided to step up to the plate and remind us that we owe Mummy and Daddy big time. They were the ones who kept us alive through the bullying, the bike accidents, the shattered limbs and broken hearts. Now, it is the children’s turn to keep their parents comfy and warm ‘til they breathe their last. After all, there is always time to change the will, if they feel unloved.
Not that it will be easy if the law becomes universal. Take Mary Louise: There she is galloping though her day, getting the kids to school, packing their lunches, rushing off to the office, picking up her darlings, and taking them to tap dancing and soccer, driving home, giving the house a quick dust, fixing dinner, greeting the father of her gang with a drink, serving food, cleaning the kitchen and collapsing in front of the telly. At midnight, she and her hubby stagger up to bed, too exhausted to do what they used to do before they tied the knot. Suddenly, she sits bolt upright, snaps her fingers and says, “Oh my God! I forgot to visit Daddy. Now we’ll never pay off this mortgage.”
And if her partner is a good sort, he says, “Don’t worry, darling. I will visit you every Tuesday and bring chocolate.”
Appreciating your parents is the only hope for civilization.
– The Chinese Government & Lynn Ruth
