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Should children expect their parents to leave a small fortune to carry on with their lives? Is there an unwritten rule that children can plan grand schemes, knowing full well that their parents will fill in the gap when finances are tight? More than that, these days, children expect some kind of inheritance upon the passing of an elder.
This expectation does not come after the children have laboriously cared for their old folks, but by being mere vessels to carry on their DNA.
Maybe it is not a simple case of loss of filial piety, but blame it on the profound change in appreciation of economics and the outlook about communal living.
There was a time when being born and surviving to adulthood was rare. For that, children stayed eternally grateful. They shadowed the adults and learned the tricks of the trade to survive. Being mainly an agrarian society, it made sense to live in communities, have a common goal and work towards the betterment of the community.
Come the 20th century, and the new world economic order of capitalism, mercantilism and industrialisation becomes fashionable. Communal living became a thing of the past. Factories treated workers as individuals, each performing their designated tasks. Individualism crept in, with personal space becoming a new buzzword.
Children are no longer eternally indebted to their parents for existence. As far as they are concerned, the children never asked to be born. In their minds, everyone is just a spoke in the cogwheel, doing their part. Around that time, childhood became a time when children developed psychologically. Experts decided that a well-balanced childhood ensured healthy adults. The world soon revolved around the kiddos.
If, in the Skantha Purana, Ganesha can circumambulate Shiva and Sakthi when He needs to go around the world to acquire the legendary ‘Fruit of Knowledge’ (Nyaana Pazham ஞான பழம்) and claim that His parents are His world, then the parents’ world now revolves around their offspring.
It was also deemed that the tender child’s heart is too vulnerable to accept failures and disappointments. Grading of examinations and the withholding of medals from losers in sporting events were to be discouraged. Children should grow up in an environment with only positive vibes. Soon, children began to feel entitled. To them, they were the centre of the Universe. The orbit of the planets, the waxing and waning of the moon, the tide and the weather work at the command. They initiated the Big Bang!
So, what is wrong if the offspring expect their parents to be the sponsors of their lives? After all, they were the reason for their existence. The children did not ask to be born.
Farouk Gulsara (asokansham@gmail.com) is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
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