When Parents Become Children: A Story of Love, Patience & Dignity

Love.....Dignity!!

In my Opds, I meet different people each day, having their own stories of life. I enjoy listening to my patients recital of their health problems bothering them, and also life problems which take a toll on them.

One fine day, in walked an elderly frail lady, leaning heavily on her walking stick in right hand, grumbling and gesturing wildly and grasping the left hand of an middle aged person obviously her son. The son held her with utmost care and respect, supporting her, talking to her and gently leading her.

We had our consultation and I decided to admit the old lady for evaluation of her breathlessness.

The next day, during the rounds, I saw the elderly lady sitting propped up in bed, with her son delicately feeding her a bowl of rice held in his hand. The lady ate clumsy with morsels falling on her gown, on the bed and all around. The son tried coaxing her to eat, speaking to her gently and softly. The lady pushed the bowl of rice and the rice fell splattering all around on the floor.

I watched as the son, gently got up to clean the morsels of rice on his mother's gown, sheets, speaking softly to her with great love and care.

I knew the elderly lady had a myriad of illness, and among them was dementia. I gently asked the son when he came to my Opd to meet me afterwards, do u not get angry or loose your patience with your mother?

He said, sir when I was a child, I spilled all the food, threw tantrum each day, did all the mischief imaginable, and my mother never got angry, cared for me gently, coaxed me and taught me about life.

Today, what ever I am is bcoz of my Mother. She sacrificed herself to make me a Man.

Now, she is a Child, how can I get angry with her? I was a child then, she took care of me. Now she is a child, and I am a Man, a parent to her. How can a dad shout on her child even when the child is unreasonable and does not know what it is doing?

I applauded him. What a lesson to learn...

Everybody will be a child n parent in their lives. We will be children in our childhood n our parents will be children in their old age.

Can we not accept that elders are back to being children as age advances, and treat them with respect, love and care? Just remember, if our mums and dads had forsaken us when we were children bcoz we were unreasonable, would we have become Men?

So when our parents are old, unreasonable Children, is it too much to ask to be reasonable to them and take care of them n love them and give them Dignity... ?