139. At Old Age They Are Kids………………….

It is unbearably true that the old age is a phase in life which needs to have some sort of emotional support. Even though the aged are looked after well they need someone to talk to them. At that age they are always yearning to tell others the experience they had in their entire life. It is a stage in life where they want someone to listen to them when they speak. Unfortunately the younger generation has no time to heed to their words. Many a times interacting with aged parents may be difficult in view of the hectic work schedule but then it is privilege and honor to attend to them.We feel them to be irritating but that is what we were when we were kids, Isn't it??????? They may sometime be fussy about things but at that ripe age they are just like kids. They have all the qualities of kids. Please observe if you bring anything from outside they are eager to know about it as kids, like kids they want to talk first about what they know. Their eating habit also would be like kids they want to taste everything they see. In total they are kids and we have to understand that and tackle them as we would handle a kid. An 80 year old man was sitting in the garden with his 45 year old highly educated son who was working on his laptop. Suddenly a crow perched on the tree nearby. The old man asked his son, "What is that?" The son replied "It is a crow". After a few minutes, the old man asked his son the 2nd time, "What is that?" The son said "Father, I told you just now it's a crow". After a short while, the old man again asked his son the 3rd time, “What is that?" By this time the son who was working on the laptop got irritated and said to his Father with a rebuff. "It's a crow, a crow" A little after, again the old man asked his Son the 4th time, "What is that?" This time the son shouted at his Father, "Why do you keep asking me the same question again and again, although I have told you so many times 'IT IS A CROW'. Are you not able to understand this?" A little later the old man went to his room and came back with an old diary, which he had maintained since the birth of his son. Opening a page, he asked his son to read that page. When the son read it, he found the following words written in the diary:- "Today my little son aged three was sitting with me in the garden, and a crow was sitting on the window. My little son asked me 23 times what it was, and I replied to him all 23 times that it was a crow. I hugged him lovingly each time he asked me the same question again and again for 23 times. I did not at all feel irritated I rather felt affection for my innocent child". While the young man who was a little kid had asked his father 23 times "What is this", his father had felt no irritation in replying to the same question all 23 times but for this young man his work on the laptop was so important today that he felt irritated and annoyed when his father asked him the same question just 4 times. If our parents attain old age we need not be repulse towards them or look at them as a burden, but speak to them with gracious word, be cool, obedient, humble and kind to them. All they need is our patience to listen to them. There is much more sense in keeping them happy and caring for them when they are with us.