Soon after, the Banker died as well, and the entire family fortune and responsibility fell on the Son.
With the passage of her husband, Mother was now no longer the head of the household, but she was confident nothing would change, after all her son loved her. When she came back from a vacation trip after a hot summer, she went into her room only to find that all of her possessions were missing. In a panic she ran to her Son's room and found him sitting on his desk.
Where are my things my beautiful son, where did you move them to?," she cried.
Why to grandmother's room of course," he diffidently stated.
What? To that dirty little shack, you cannot expect your mother to live their?!," she screamed.
Her son looked up at her and blinked his eyes. "Why are you so angry, I am treating you no better and no worse than you treated your parents." Then he turned back to his readings without looking up again.
Mother looked down at her hands and found that they no longer were soft and silky smooth, they had become the hands of an old woman, just like her mothers. Without a whimper she left the room, and lived out her days just as her mother had, cleaning and prepping, serving under the whims of her daughter in law. So the old Chinese adage goes, "As you sow, so shall you reap."
To gain the respect of children and to gain the respect of our own later generations it is imperative that we exhibit respect in kind. One should never expect to be treated better than how he or she treats others. Our elders are the foundations of what we are, because without their accomplishments we would not be here nor have the things we do. Many times younger generations take what they have for granted and begin to believe that they have accomplished greater than their elders. But this perspective is wrong because we forget that success and progressive is built like a staircase, the ones above and before us cannot be built until the ones below are laid.
Our elders have given us a lot, and because in their lifetime they have experienced everything that we are experiencing they have a lot to teach us. As the younger generation, we must understand that one day we will be in a similar position, and if we want to be treated with the esteem and dignity that we think we deserve, then the first step is to respect our elders and make them feel welcome and respected. Not only will this reward us in the future, but it will lead us to incite that we previously would never have had. It is for all of these reasons that we must respect our elders and treat them with dignity.
