Daily Thoughts #1: Do We Owe Our Parents?

in Reflections16 days ago

I know going from a Far Cry 4 gameplay video to a deep topic like this is kind of weird but so am I! So I thought maybe share this with you guys and see what’s your opinion about it.
As someone who lives in the Middle East where respecting your parents is almost like a social rule that you must obey let me start with this: I believe if your parents are taking care of you and providing for you as much as they can, they deserve your respect and maybe some appreciation, now with that being said, does that mean you should devote your entire life and career to them? I don’t think so.

To some of you that might sound ridiculous and exaggerated, but believe it or not that’s the reality of life for so many people, especially in Asia. Up until the last generation parents were essentially gods of their children, and I mean that literally. They decide what you eat, what you wear, where you go, what major you study, who you marry, what job you should choose and basically, every single important decision of your life.
Now to be fair your parents have to have authority over you before you turn 18 but after that, it’s just controlling your life. I get that they do it because they care and want the best for their kids, but as humans, it is in our nature to despise being told what to do and having no freedom to shape your life the way you want.

Unfortunately what I’ve been witnessing for the last few years is a severe imbalance that parents have in raising their kids, and that is they either give them complete freedom and no consequence to their actions, or they control every aspect of their life and leave no place for creativity and experiencing new things.

I’m not gonna sit here and pretend to know better or act like I would definitely do things different, after all I haven’t even reached my mid twenties yet and not the smartest in the room either, I guess as the title of the post shows, these are just thoughts that comes to my mind and I don’t know the answer to them really and the point of writing these is to first get them out of my head and second hear what you guys think about this and what do you consider to be the golden standard to raise your children and how much authority or control should the parents have over the lives of their kids; but most importantly, do you think you owe your parents a career that they desire or a lifestyle that they approve?