So, I had a really weird train of thought.
In the Ten Commandments, it says to honor your father and mother.
In too many societies, it means that (not all, but still too many) parents feel an entitlement that they can treat their children and grandchildren like crap and still be honoured and served because they gave them life and are their parents/elders.
So, this means parents don’t necessarily respect their children, and the children who aren’t respected would continue the cycle, respecting their kids less than they were respected, because they’re now the parents.
And so on and so forth, which could possibly tie into how the rate of mental health issues are growing (generalising the increased awareness mental health has now).
I understand that this can be easily debunked, and there’s more nuance to all of this. But for people who come from “traditional families”, I’m curious to hear what you think.
Yeah, I think there are rarely any historical texts that tells you how to treat your children right. Then again, children were seen as tiny adults back then, especially after they’ve reached puberty. Even child labor laws only appeared quite recently relative to the history of civilization.
In some countries child labour is still completely legal e.g. on farming.
https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/11/13/children-working-terrifying-conditions-us-agriculture
True, I think in Japan kids weren’t considered human until they survived to a certain age due to how child mortality just worked in the past (the exact number slips my mind atm).
Based on Linfamy’s video here, sometimes parents would even “return” children shortly after birth, just because childbirth was safer than abortion measures of the time.
Do you respect your retirement accounts?
That’s what they used to be, they were there to take care of you when you got old.
Now that we have more resources we can afford such luxuries as “not letting rich people randomly murder poor people for sport as much” and “slavery is bad, try to keep it low profile”.
Mostly people who had the worse ideas are dying, and young people are allowed their own opinions independent from their parents and older society now, this is a huge change that only started this century.
In a way, the internet was originally a massive youth underground revolution where everybody got together and realized old people didn’t actually know that much.
Good point. I do agree it’s more of a modern idea.
Though in a way, you do have to care for your retirement account. You have to make deposits regularly and ensure investments are done responsibly to ensure the best possible outcome.
If you don’t take care of them, then you’ll only get a poor outcome, like not receiving the best possible care but just the bare minimum necessary or even nothing at all, if things are bad enough.
After all, the bible also says “Love they neighbour as thyself”. When your children grow up and become your neighbour, the way you’ve treated them has a possibility of coming home to roost, especially now.
Some would treat their kids better than they would be treated. In my milieu, this is generally the case. Everyone treats his kids better than he was.
I literally just had a falling out with my parents today. I guess it’s been coming. We connect on very little. I’d say they are mostly stereotypical boomers, and whenever I just try and tell them about the issues I’m having with life and society, they claim they’ve “been there” and effectively devalue my concerns. It’s maddening. I’m still processing it, but apparently we’re not talking anymore.
I guess that doesn’t fit this post exactly, but there it is.
No, but I understand that. I’ve been on bad terms with my own mother following an incident last October where I swore at her when she refused to hear me out when I tried to explain myself. The full thing is obviously a bit more complex.
Our only interactions since have been arguments where she’s said very verbally abusive things and it’s hard. She’s done better than her own mom, who’s just generally verbally abusive by only doing so while mad, but there’s some things you can’t say without having to make amends later, and she’s run up a list.
Difficult families are difficult. I hope things improve for you as well.
Thanks. I hope things improve on your side too.
I think that overall humanity is getting out of abuse more than it’s going in.
Like, my grandpa fought japanese soldiers in the south pacific. Then he came home and beat his wife and daughter, which compared to bayoneting them was rather mild.
My mother never hit me, but she played all sorts of mind games to protect a part of her that never felt safe, and that fucked me up.
Now I’m unraveling all the weird philosophies and worldviews. I’ll pass on trauma to my kids, but it will be less.
However, we’re also getting into a time when the world shifts faster and faster around us. And while that may be exciting, that excitement and the cognitive effort to adapt to new circumstances will create a physiological load on people that will (already is IMO) making people less “alive” than they could be with proper rest from novelty.
Slightly off topic from you, but when I was going through a religious phase I always hated when older church goers would use it without thinking about the second part of it.
Parents are supposed to take care of their kids and earn that honor. I think the quote I half remember is treat your kids like Jesus did the church. Too many people throw out respect your elders, but some elders don’t deserve respect.
