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Vol.35 The Good You Do For Your Parents Is Good You Do Yourself. |
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In Japan, there is an old
saying, gThe good you do for
others is good you do yourself.h
The Sanseido Daijirin describes
that git means doing good to
others will bring good back to
youh but gin recent years it is
sometimes misunderstood that
doing good to others wonft be
any good for them.h
The
theme of todayfs essay is gThe
good you do for your parents is
good you do yourself,h a parody
of the above saying.
When
I was 40, I attended the funeral
of one of my relatives. It made
me realize that a funeral is a
ceremony not for the deceased
but for the family. I, as an
Atheist, cannot help but wonder
whether a big ceremony is
necessary for the departed
because he/she cannot see the
funeral or hear the Sutras from
the heaven. After all, people
have a funeral for their
self-fulfillment, and by
sympathizing with those who just
lost loved ones, people from
temples, churches, and funeral
companies must have started
forming a ceremony of praying
for the deceased.
I
think there is a similarity
between being nice to parents
and having a funeral. In
Confucianism, filial piety
(doing good to parents) is more
important than anything. In
general as well, it is natural
that you take good care of your
parents who gave birth to you
and raised you. Even though
there have recently been an
increasing number of social
problems caused by parents, such
as child neglect and abuse, you
should still treat your parents
with thankfulness and respect as
a matter of course.
I
do not doubt that a person who
can give up his/her seat to the
elderly on a train or bus is
likely to take care of his/her
parents when they become old or
are ill in bed. Sooner or later,
you will face the death of your
parents. When the time comes,
will you be confident in saying
that you had provided plenty of
care for your parents?
Therefore,
you should be doing good to your
parents not for them but for
yourself. The important thing
may be having a philosophy of
such a way of life or thinking.
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