I am sure everyone have their own weird tantrum stories. Kids are little monsters most of the time if my favourite little childhood tantrum (out of the ones which I remember) is an indication. Being the youngest in my family by a long margin, I was always being molly-coddled by my parents to the extent that they indulged me like they were my grandparents! I used to sleep right in between Mom and Dad for many many childhood years, come what may, an honour not to be shared with my elder brother or sister under any circumstances whatsoever.
Not satisfied even with this position of privilege, I had one tremendously annoying habit. At any time of the night, I might find myself awake and thirsty. Irrespective of whether the time was 1:00 AM, 2:00 AM or 3:00 AM and whether the season was winter or summer, I would bawl out aloud "Jollllllllllllll" (which means water in Bengali) despite the fact that I was completely capable of getting out of the bed and fetching myself a glass of water. I must have continued with this terribly sadistic torture on my folks until I was 10 or 11, yet not a single memory do I have about either of my parents grumbling about this spectacularly unreasonable demand of mine. Religiously either one of them would get up, go to the kitchen, pour a glass of water and get it to me as I lay prostate on the bed they'd have liked to stay a little longer on. In retrospect, I think what a pain in the behind I was and what did I ever do to receive this kind of royal treatment!
So when I read Ayn Randian philosophies of "selfishness" being the only ultimate virtue and about how every kind of "sacrifice" is a tool for weak people who are less talented and capable to gain attention, I laugh, laugh aloud. I know not all parents are ideal but I am sure the good ones outnumber the bad ones a million to one. What a fool I'd be to sneer at such devotion that my parents or indeed most parents show their kids, what a monster I'd be to say that they loved me so incredibly deeply and unconditionally and still do just for their personal benefit.
1 comment:
Parents - Man! Can never ever question their motives, because it all falls back to the fact that they are your parents and they do it because of their love :)
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