“I am getting older and my strength is gradually fading. Indeed, I can’t manage on my own. But a Nursing home? No, son! I don’t want to die surrounded by strangers. Please, don’t send me to any nursing home! Let me stay here with you until the very end!”, Mr. Khan pleaded to his son. But his only son didn’t pay heed to his father’s cracking voice and eventually forced him to go to the nursing home.
These types of incidents are not new nowadays! Every day, there are thousands of elderly parents who are vulnerable to this sort of abandonment by their so-called educated children! The shocking fact is that the heartbreaking internal outbursts of elderly parents don’t touch the ruthless hearts of their children!
Isn’t it strange that the way our parents have brought us up is not the same way we treat them? We, the educated children, are so busy fulfilling our dreams and setting our goals that the love of our parents goes unnoticed by us. If we look back, Can we remember how much we bothered our parents with our mischievous childhood antics? Did they leave us for that? Let alone leaving our hands, they have never uttered a word saying that they don’t want to be with us or they don’t want to take responsibility for us. They have sacrificed all their dreams to ensure their children are educated and fulfilled.
And when it is time to take care of them, we tend to think of this responsibility as burdensome. Surprisingly, we have ample time to hang out with our friends but don’t have much time to ask our parents how their day has been spent. When parents get older, they gradually feel lonely and sick. But what do we do to overcome their loneliness? Instead of giving them company, we get annoyed with them whenever they start expressing their inner selves. Moreover, sometimes we feel irritated after coming home if they tell us about their health condition. We act as if we were in a burdensome situation!
In this situation, we can take an easy route by sending them into the so-called ‘Nursing Homes’, saying that they will be better-taken care of in that nursing home and there are other similar-aged people like them whose company they will enjoy better! Not even for once, we ask them for what they want!
We get so indulged in thinking about just ourselves that we forget that those are the people who have sacrificed their whole lives for us and we are the ones who are the only support system to their lives. How selfish souls we are! We only ensure that we can reach the summit of success by fulfilling our dreams. But unfortunately, there is no place for our parents in those dreams. The people who have dreamt big dreams for us are not the same people residing in our dreams. How strange!
Why do we forget that our parents just want to be with us till their last breath? No nursing home, be it sophisticated or modern, can ensure the mental peace of our elderly parents. Nursing homes may provide all the facilities we think our parents should get. But we should not forget that we are the best companions for our elderly parents. We must be with our parents through thick and thin just like they had never left us when we were young.
If we love anyone, we don’t want them to be away from us. Isn’t it what we should remember when the thought of “Nursing Home” knocks at our minds? Therefore, it’s time to get out of that shell of self-centeredness and stop taking those routes that are headed to keep our parents away from us! Instead of thinking about the nursing home, we have to ensure that our parents remain in front of our eyes under the same roof.
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Writer,
Taspia Taher
Intern, Content Writing Department
YSSE