an act of destruction

that little twerp punched me in the nose. so, ok, it wasn't a full blown punch like pomp, arrrrgggghhhh, falling to the floor, bleeding nose and stuff, but he still raised his hand, like the un-gentleman that he is, and punched me on the nose. all because of a little humour and a gibe, which we trade on ends everyday anyway. the last time someone punched me on the nose was when i was 11. if my parents knew then that i came home with bloody nose, i don't think they would have been that comfortable with sending me away for education. ignorance is indeed bliss. hmmm, maybe that is why i have such a stubby nose. will suing for compensation 28 years later be too late, you think?

anyway, back to the story. he is technically an adult, though not quite in the mental department perhaps. a young adult. perhaps that was his version of humour. still, someone has to teach him that it is wrong to raise his hands in violence. i blame his parents more, his grandparents even, for not educating him in what is right and what is wrong, for turning the other eye. if i was sure i will not be thrashed myself, i would have hunted for my nearest cane and whipped that young man, if only to tell him that it is not acceptable to punch your aunty. but violence begets violence, and that is not another thing i wanted to teach him. ahem *coward*. it was all i could do to hold my temper, and hands itching to cane that little twerp, in check.

what is perhaps more frustrating is the attitude of those around him. their ears only ever perk up when he does something right, and falls deaf for some strange reason when he misbehaves. scientists around the world would have given a hand and a leg to understand the selective listening aptitude of certain species in our world. for that matter, so would i, but that is more in relation to my strangely selective listening partner in life. i am digressing.

that is the problem of parents, and grandparents the world over. that is the problem with modern parenting. i don't know when, i don't know why and i most certainly don't know how parents came to feel that they owe so much to their children. when a plate of food is laid on the table, parents encourage their children to be the first to taste the spoils, to grab at the food and pick it over even before the elderly lay their eyes on it. didn't moral education taught us that we should respect the grandparents, the aged? actually, i was never taught so either. maybe that is where the crack started. how do you teach something that you have never been taught? but teach we still do, despite being a hypocrite. because it is the right thing to impart. we climb over ourselves to protect our children, to give them the best, to be there for them. we didn't spare a moment to teach them to respect us, to care for us in return, to be a responsible and giving adult, to honour the patriarch and matriarch of the family. when we are old and grey, when we are weak, who are we to blame when they prioritise their children over us? when they give the best to their offsprings and leave the bishop nose, the chicken neck for us, the aged, the grandparents? what can we say when they throw us out of the house, just so little junior can have a room for himself?

it is not altruistic of parent to place their children as first priority. it is not an act of love. it is an act of destruction.