I am a great-grand-mother, to my own dismay. I did not think I would live to see 3 generations ahead of me. Life has been what Life is- a few mountains to climb, clear waters to enjoy the swim, thorns along the way and lots of learning everyday. I have been in awe and in disgust of the changes that have happened during this time. Yes, times have changed and change is good.
I look on in quiet disapproval of the lazy, ungrateful generation. I understand I am past the age of Resistance, yet I wonder if somehow it was an error in our generation to try and make life easy for our kids. We tried to make them work less and now most shun work and have what they call the "Monday Morning blues". Shouldn't we be glad for the work? What would we achieve if all we wanted was Eternal Vacation? We tried to provide for their "wants" so that they wouldn't feel the disappointment we did when we were kids, but now they have no distinction between a want and a need. We made sure they had the opportunity in learning to read, write and think so that they live balanced lives but today they think all the time instead of getting things done, they call it "Planning". When we talked of family- it included our parents, siblings, our children and their children, but today these have become "Extended families" each wanting to be "Nuclear".
I understand I don't have a long walk to the door of death and that I should have no regrets, yet against all my will to be positive, I regret that I have not been able to pass on the wisdom of all the generations until Me. I wish I had done things differently with respect to the kids. Maybe I still have time enough to teach my great-grand-children the virtues of good speech, of listening more than talking, of appropriate behaviour, of consideration for others around them, of being able to think about "we and ours" more instead of "I and Mine", of taking care of the earth and of the peace and confidence earned from Hard Work.
Willing Myself the Power to Make them Listen, I rest in quietude.
The Pictures to Words tour - for more entries.
30 comments:
Wow, I really really liked this.....thinking now. :)
A lot of food for thought here - I hope that some of the "kids" might read this.
Absolutely beautiful .... Thank you Rashmi... I have thought this many times, but could not have said it so well.
Very unique take on this photo. Old yet with a young touch
Hope you will enjoy my little piece:
http://epistling.multiply.com/journal/item/440/Picture_into_Words_-_Sad
Early Morning exercise-- Thinking. thank your Tina :).
Thank you for dropping by and enjoying the read... I hope they do too.
That picture took me to a different time... I was remembering my Grandmom... This is what she might have said had she said it.
Thank you for dropping by and leaving comment.. will be visiting soon.
it is very easy to read and enjoy, but very difficult to do and become, whether great grandma agrees to disagree or disagrees to agree she has wonderful wisdom, in a way at disapproval u have shown her brilliant wisdom and how sad she is that none recognized her wisdom and got her disapproval. you have covered all the three propositions directed by the hostess to the audience, what a nice travel i did make, thank you! swagatham to your visit to mine, namasteji!
Great Job. I tried for days to go the disapproval route to no avail so I ended up doing wisdom.
My grandmom's only wish is that I would go back to Transylvania and see her before she dies. She is 84 now... She raised me.
yes, law never works...
as my dad and mom must have found with me...
true grace works [eventually]
Rashmi...I'm so glad you did this. It is just wonderful. A wonderful message to ALL.
How perfectly stated. I can't say much more than that.
Your words are exactly right and your style is smooth
and you did a great job sticking to proper person.
Awesome!
Pinkie
Beautiful words, and very true. Thanks for sharing :)
I want the "Eternal Vacation" or better yet "The Never-ending Saturday".
Absolutely brilliant!
http://picturestowords.multiply.com/journal/item/31/Faces_-_Week_One_-_Open_for_Comments
I am glad that you are participating in these writing challenges as you do have so much to offer with your writing talent.
A wonderful story and said how it is for many young people of today. The end of this lady is the end of an era I wonder what awaits?
Thanks for your always welcome comments on mine too, dear.
Picturestowords: Faces. Beauty in Sad Faces.
your words so reflect my feelings toward the attitude of the "today" generation. totally different from what i grew up with. your direct-to-the-point harangue is so effective. such a stern rebuke!
http://rowe85.multiply.com/journal/item/50/FACES_-_Old_Age_Sad
@Ronnie - Thank you kindly. :)
@Pinkie - Thank you for hosting this. I am amazed at the talented blogmates
@ Jan and Emma - Welcome to my home on the web :). I am glad you enjoyed this.
@ Larry - You could have an Eternal Vacation but even that has consequences :).
I keep hoping that it means peace oriented societies with more aware communities.
Ty Pinkypromise. The stern Rebuke is what I hear when I wonder "what will my gran say?"
Very good and i couldn't agree more , well said !
Very well spoken
http://geoaskier.multiply.com/journal/item/173/PIC_TO_WORD_faces_wk1_WISDOM
I love how you wrote this in her own words. First time I've seen that in this challenge I think, at least first time so direct at least. (It's been a couple of days since I read the first entries so I might have forgotten).
I often make many of these observations as I compare my husband's family in Morocco to my family here in the US. We have become all of the things she mentions while his family is still all she misses. I went to see my 5 year old grandson tonight and it took over half an hour to get him to turn off the video game and talk to me about anything else. Unfortunately my own son never turned his game off the whole time I was there. I feel so much like this grandmom right now!
You've captured the thoughts very well. Are you a grandma too by any chance?
Welcome to my home on the web.
While the world is making "progress" we pay a price for it too in the form of those intangible stuff that makes everyday life Joyful and Healthy. I guess, thats how the wheel of time works.
No, Not yet a grandma but someday Hopefully it will be so, if marriage and having kids in a family is still an institution of great importance.
It seems to me that the interpretation of faces is dependent on individuals' cultures. It's interesting reading the blogs about her. For all you know she may be blind, or watching a bus approaching.
It could be or she could be bored, waiting for something. Or maybe she just woke up from dozing. Interpretations are dependent on the person's cultural upbringing. It makes me wonder how much of "Body Language" that the experts are trained to watch for during interrogation actually holds.
It's an interesting language. One psychologist's tenet is that when we read someone's body language, we are interpreting it in the context of our parents' body language.
Hmm if that is so, then I guess it explains the goof ups that happen when two people of different backgrounds meet.
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