Duty towards parents

Every human being should show genuine love, affection and respect to parents. This is because parents have brought the child into the world; they agreeing that its birth is a tangible, consequential result of their mutual love and that it should live out their legacy of life with love and adulation. Also, there is the inbuilt, natural, spontaneous, human desire to reproduce and procreate to continue life here on Earth which prompts all human beings to have a family of their own.

It follows, therefore, that one's parents are one's greatest allies and supporters. It is impossible to envisage life without parents taking concerted efforts to not just bring life to fruition (birth), but even after birth, to see to it that the offsprings are taken care of, cherished and loved, educated and are made responsible, independent and self-sufficient. However, what happens when the parents expire?

Their physical presence will not be here. But the offsprings should be strong and courageous enough to face the loss. In some cases, the offsprings have so much of deep-seated, poignant pain and despair that they are unable to come to terms with it. They know that their parents were their greatest well-wishers and supporters and hence are totally bereft without them.

The following beautiful poem by Vicki Michelle Lee puts these notions into the correct perspective and what one's attitude should ultimately be: "As I sit in Heaven and watch you everyday / I try to let you know, with signs, I never went away / I hear you when you're laughing and watch you, as you sleep / I even place my arms around you, to calm you as you weep / I see you wish the days away, urging to have me home / So I try to send you signs, so you know you're not alone / Don't feel guilty that you have life that was denied to me / Heaven is truly beautiful, just you wait and see / So, use your life, laugh again, enjoy yourself, be free / Then I know with every breath you take, you'll be taking one for me."