FAMILY ISSUES

I got a bit of an issue with respect. Not that I am not willing to dish it out, I am and do when it is required and when it is expected and when it is earned. I do, however have an issue when respect should be given and it isn't.

I've been thinking a lot about families lately, be it that I am will soon be starting one of my own and have found that my mind often wonders to the topic of respect. It's fair game to expect children to respect their parents, is it not, when those parents have done everything to raise whole-hearted and good natured children in a loving and productive enviroment? I think respect is not just earned in these cases, but that it should not wane with age and it should not dissapate when life changes. When parents do all they can to make a good, happy, healthy home for their children and love then and give them all they require, put them on a good path and molds them into fine, young adults, you have to completely respect and admire that kind of dedication and (sometimes hidden but there) love that it requires to do so.

When those children grow up, move on and start their own lives and answer to themselves, the decisions they make are reflections of the enviroment and morals they were instiled with as children. For every good decision they make, for ever step forward in life, they need to sometimes take a minute and reflect on where they came from and how they were raised.

When those parents get older, when they go through these changes near to the end of their lives and they do not function as well as they used to, I believe the healthy and happy children are required to continue to give that deserved and aquired respect. This person, this elder changed your diapers, held you when you cried, taught you important life lessons and when their life changes and they become a shadow of themselves, these children are required to keep the hope going, and should give respect, no matter what.

It pains me to see the family unit detriorate in this way. An elder so upset with the treatment from his children that he refuses to hang their potraits in their home, that they feel belittled and unapprciated by those they have reared. It pains me to see blantent disrespect from children to an adult, special an adult who did all they could and continued to do so until life beat them down a little bit at a time.

I'm seething from the display I've seen today.