And ..

I think it’s probably reasonable of me to say out loud, or at least write down, that parents care about their children more than children care about their parents. That’s hard for parents to read, let alone accept, but I do think ( know ) that it’s correct. This post was prompted by 2 interactions on the same day ( yesterday ) One was with my mother and the other one of my daughters. One sent me a message that was so loving and caring that it made me tearful, and the other ( in a brief conversation ) was so dismissive and ‘terminal sounding ‘ that it took my breath away. The second one was later retracted ( slightly ) but the effects nonetheless are certainly going have a lasting effect.


In nature a mother ( animal or bird ) will fiercely protect her young, but that doesn’t apply in reverse at all.
In Britain it’s quite standard for the parents of a child that is born with a defect, or acquires one, to then look after that child ( possibly all their lives ) but in reverse that would hardly ever be the case. It’s the norm that the ‘ kids’ would opt to put the parent ‘ into care’, rather than having them live with them. That’s not true across the board, and not so true in Asian and black families, but it is in ‘ white British ‘ families in 2019. The whites think it acceptable to do that, and their friends will not condemn them for it, as they’d do it themselves. The standard of ‘ care’ in Care Homes varies from reasonable to absolutely shocking, and people know that, yet park that in their ‘ let’s just ignore that ‘ part of their brains. I know from various forums that I have belonged to and Wendy has too ( as a partner of someone disabled ) that the wives and husbands generally keep ‘ caring ‘ for the injured party for a period ( but definitely find it hard, and more definitely were not prepared for that eventuality when they first met their partner, who at that time wasn’t disabled ). Some ‘ can’t take any more ‘ and send their partner into ‘ care’ and when they do no one is publicly disapproving, as most people know full well that that is precisely what they would do ( or want to do ). It’s also true that amongst older white people in Britain there definitely isn’t such a rush to get rid of the burden. I can’t imagine my grandparents doing that to each other, or my parents, or aunties and uncles either, but perhaps that generation is the last one to feel ‘responsible’ for afflicted partners and parents needing looking after? The state patently can’t afford to though, and already it’s almost collapsing under the pressure, so perhaps in the future state help won’t exist at all, and it’ll be down to the partners and kids that really don’t want to do it. What then I wonder? If euthanasia becomes normal then that might be the afflicted person’s choice, or perhaps it’ll also become legal to give lethal injections out? That looks pretty extreme, but who knows how this already uncaring society may act in a hundred years time? Perhaps the ‘logical disposal’ of the invalid may become acceptable?

Progress, I think they call it.

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