Gone are the days when elderly people in the household were considered a blessing. Today an ailing aged person in the family is looked upon as a cause of financial concern. Even if the financial part is taken care of, emotional support is not very effectively extended. Most of the youngsters today fail to exhibit the patience required in understanding the emotional needs of the aged. They either don’t have the time or the inclination to spend quality time with them. Forgotten are the efforts pooled in by our ageing seniors, who in their young age, spent quality time with us to make us physically, mentally and emotionally strong human beings. I have very frequently come across ailing people, who are always considered as a problem rather than a matter of concern by their family members. Family members get irritated to handle ailing or aged people who become physically incapable or financially unstable. It is because they then are not in a position to enjoy the good things around them in life.

It is indeed an irony. As human beings, we learn to appreciate life but forget to appreciate the people behind the creator of our lives.When a child learns his first expression, it is usually ‘Ma’ or ” Pa’. The child sees life through the eyes of his creator, his parents and relates to the people, the surroundings through their eyes. The very feeling of being precious and special comes from them. The feeling of being needed is aroused by them and that is how the sensibility and the sensitivity towards the same is developed in a child. They are the ones who develop an aesthetic sense in us so that we are in a position to appreciate the beauty of life. Soon after birth, a mother develops a protective cocoon around her child. A cocoon which very effectively develops one into an emotionally strong human being. This protective shield is so strong and has such miraculous calming effect that even after growing up, as an adult one can still easily get relieved by one’s parents comforting words and feel preotected.

However, it is a pity that such comforting words are not extended to them when they need us. Our parents never turned down our needs when we were small, never failed to extend physical support when we didn’t even know how to walk, understood us much before we learnt to speak and most imporatantly loved us with all our mistakes. Why can’t we be the same to them??Why do we have to turn them down at a stage when they are physically and emotionally helpless? Have we ever thought how we would have felt had they turned us down at the time of our crisis. What if this were the same situation for us at your old age??

We feel it is only our duty to make a name and identity for ourselves in this world through professional work. Its a good thought indeed cause we will be eventually be remebered for our work. But work is not just pertaining to the professional sphere, its applicable on our contributions in our personal lives as well. After all if we don’t have a a healthy family life, it will eventually affect our workfront too.

Maybe after reading this writeup many will feel about it strongly and some may ignore it as a general writeup. For such people I have a request, kindly close your eyes and think about your old age for just 10 minutes. Scared or concerned?? Then please start making this effort today. Try and help the ageing and ailing around you cause after all what goes in comes back. Believe me spending quality time with them will enlighten you and seeing their smiles will make you feel once again special.