Dear Edward, That Gibran reference can be inadvertently read too literally. I hope you were not doing that. It is more of a parable and as such must be approached in a "parabolic" way (what goes around comes around scenarios)." We did not choose our births, neither did our parents us, nor were all parents in our time (and even now) blessed with an understanding of market forces, working 25 years in the Middle East, had other great jobs, invested in hedge funds, understood market volatility, or raise children to be bankers. My mother for instance has no reason not to hope. She received a certain amount of education (very little in fact), a lot of faith in truth and justice, and the belief that things all wok out. Most of these things did not turn out the way she thought it would. But what she has is us, and we are three relatively quite but tough assed kids. She has only realized that recently -- now that she sees that we never hurt anyone, are there for her, work things out among ourselves even one of us messes things up for the other two. This she sees when she contrasts her existence against others. She knows we are there for her and it strengthens her. She does not cling. Perhaps that may be the situation with others.
There are very few people who I can say for sure, I mean be a 100 percent certain that they can live by themselves even if they had all the money in the world and people to take care of them such as assisted living in any variation. There are elders who believe that the children should be there for them; and these days care can take many forms. To my knowledge, in many of these cases, those parents put in an inordinate amount for their children; and those children I doubt would have enjoyed the success they do, if not for those Goan working stiffs (their parents). So although, the expectations, as seen from the lens of modernity may appear a bit askew, we have to look at it as a parcel of our pathos. Hopefully, the ones who look forward to not imposing or concerning their children -- will not expect the same from their children, nor hold it out against them, if in their own latter years the same thoughts of being looking after impinge upon their independent consciousnesses. For a writer who write simply Khalil Gibran can be a hard read. He also says "Stand together, yet not too close together; for the oak and the cypress grow not in each others shadow." We used this on our wedding invite, along with other snippets of text. But imagine the disaster if one reads this piece to mean do what you please. For most it would not work out. venantius ____________________________________________________________________________ From: edward desilva < [EMAIL PROTECTED]> Selma wrote: What we havenow are more like mental asylums and I wouldn't put myworst enemy there much less my parents. This is life in the urban, 21st century. Please don'tlook to God or the Church to sort out these verytangible problems. We as a society have to addressthem head-on. ---- Parents should not look forward to be looked after by their children, that is the core issue. As Khalil Gibran (a philosopher once said): "Children are NOT your children. They come through you but not FROM you". Therefore they have their own life to live, if you had died young would your children be dead as well? ED. --------------------------------- For ideas on reducing your carbon footprint visit Yahoo! For Good this month. End of Goanet Digest, Vol 2, Issue 929 **************************************