Do we respect our lives???

When we are born, we are ignorant of the world and its maya. We are introduced to our wonderful life by our parents- our guardian angels. They have been through with us during our age of ignorance and innocence. i am sure as kids each of us have embarrassed our parents in public through our tantrums! Of course we were young then and were not aware what its like to be in their position. In spite of this they love us from the bottom of their hearts. And all through the years our parents support us...our life. They feed us, nurture us, take care of our needs, guide us to have a wise outlook towards life, never asking us any questions or expecting a reward in return for love and respect. Having done it all and seen it all we can expect a lot from our youth but they are failing in their duties.

Few years ago I had a chance of visiting an old age home.
It was my sister's b'day and we decided to distribute food, sweets and arrange for a bhajan over there. The living conditions were not that good and they were dressed just enough to appear human. But they did not complain as they got the care and companionship from others around them. And they did not want to remember the bad days of life with their family. I was distributing biscuits. At the end of the room there was an old man. He looked gawati- with no intentions to ridicule him- but thats how he looked. As I handed a pack, in a impeccable English tone , he spoke to me. I wondered what brought an educated old man here. May be he had given up all his hard earned money to his children and when he was not a penny worth, they dumped dumped him at the old age home to manage through the last phase of life's journey alone.

All they look out for is support, love, respect, care, company, happiness at a time when they are old, the sand in the hour glass of life is slipping away, their vision fading, their life on medicines, their legs being led by walking sticks, when the diary becomes their memory, the lonely benches becomes their friends. But all they earn is a bed in an old age home.



Have our parents reduced to a mere use and throw commodity, a step to climb up the ladder of success? Even an antique piece gets more attention, care and place in our house. so don't our folks deserve a respectable place in our hearts and life???

Growing up is a celebration and as we are celebrating our youth we forget that our parents are getting older. They are approaching their second childhood and its time we take care of them. This is life. Someday you, me, all of us will get old. Now in this busy world old parents dependent on their children are no longer a source of wisdom and strength, but a liability. Their simple requirement becomes a burden, their forgetfulness becomes an irritation, their behavior and presence becomes a pain in our neck. We go on to identify well with our friends sentiments but don't care anymore of our folks. We love and care for our life but theirs- not anymore. But how can we respect our life if we cant love, respect and care for its creator- OUR PARENTS? How can we respect ourself id we cant respect others? How can we love ourselves if we don't know how to love others. recently I read a book - "Hidden messages in Water by Masaru Emoto". It talks about the influence love and gratitude can have on water. On being made by 60% of water think of the magic love and gratitude can have on our mind and body.

Experience is a true eye opener and it won't be long before we children will reach their age and it's then that we would realize how loneliness and dejection from our loved ones feels. True enough every action of ours is a boomerang- what we throw at others is gonna comes back to us.

To put the world right in order, we must first put the nation in order; to put the nation in order, we must first put the family in order; to put the family in order, we must first cultivate our personal life; we must first set our hearts right.
~Confucius