Perhaps
one of the most serious issues that the present day policy makers face is that
associated with old age. Not that they
haven’t dealt with tougher challenges before. It is the magnitude of the
problem that is frustrating. Remember those life cycles we would study in the
biology classes right in the secondary school? Each organism including man is
dependent upon its parents at one stage of its growth, parents who nurture it
in every possible way, parents who would not really care about anything else if
their young ones were safe and protected. So far, the situation is fairly
simple and man shares an astounding similarity with lower organisms. Where the
problem arises for lower organisms might still be under study but for man, the
situation is pretty much clear. This young one of a man grows up to become one
of the most ungrateful beings the world had ever seen.
I
am not the kind of person who blames the West for every misconduct that is
prevalent in our days. Despite this, I believe the western culture played
spoilsport with the concepts of liberty and freedom of expression.The result?
Not only could a child choose his career independently but also sue his parents
and drag them to the court for insisting upon choosing the one they considered
was right! Not only could a son raise hue and cry whenever his father slapped
him for not studying but also he could abuse him or even assault him in
revenge. Parents were portrayed as obstructions in the child’s independent
decisions. Any suggestion by the parents began to be termed as ‘interference’
and ‘infringement’ of the child’s right to freedom. Once mature, these
teenagers began expelling their parents from what was actually their homes. Then
came the old age homes and so did humiliation. It is sad how we can do so much
of lip service as to talk about justice when we don’t practice it
ourselves. This was what the poor mother
had got in return for all the care that she gave! This is how we pay back a wretched
father who had never undergone a health checkup himself, worrying more for his
little child, until he became hypertensive. Talk about ingratitude!
There
are so many alibis we put forward to escape our responsibilities every day. And
like a true loser, we do not fail to make ‘time’ (or the lack of it) a
scapegoat. It really doesn’t take time
to hug your mother and speak a few words of compassion. Saying to your dad that
you are there for him always, is hardly time-consuming. But this generation has
a different choice. We choose to believe
that our parents are ‘outdated’. That the times have changed and our choices
have to be necessarily ours. In our ignorance, we believe it’s cool to not
listen to them and to think they have a narrower perspective of things. It’s
hip to say they are ‘old-fashioned’. How I wish more sanity prevailed in this
world!
No
matter how much good we might do to them, the hardships parents bear can never
be compensated in reality. There are things that simply can’t be paralleled or
paid for. The pains of a mother right from conception to birth and then to the
careful nurturing of a child is inexplicable. The Holy Quran puts it as:
"We have enjoined on man (to be good) to his parents: in
travail upon travail did his mother bear him."
And so it is
obligatory that we stand by our parents in thick and thin. It is important to
overlook the minor mistakes they commit. It is required that we assure them of
every possible support when the need arises. It is important to call them once
in a while just to tell how much we love them. Like the way they cuddled us
when we did not necessarily need it. Much like a worried mother who sat by the
pillow while her son or daughter was ill and like the father who was ready to
accept every challenge if his child had the best food to eat and the best
dresses to wear. It’s time we pay them back, possibly with rich dividends!
