Filial Piety

My last blog talks about tomb sweeping day. This is related to our parents' teaching or guidance to bring us up as filial children of the family - the concept of filial piety. Filial piety is important in Chinese families. It is part of our moral education. In the Chinese family whether you are born in China, Malaysia or Singapore the son or sons of the family is expected to take care of the parents when they are to old to work to maintain the family. This differs from the western family where the children grow up and take care of themselves. Their children are not expected to take care of them. My teachers explained this to me when I was in school. English education has helped us make tremendous progress in our lives but in the process of getting this education the concept of filial piety has eroded in some cases. Every now and then we hear of the father or the mother being abandoned by the son and all because the son wants to keep the monetary savings for themselves - greed takes over. This happens more often to mothers who are not educated in either Chinese or English. The son would persuade or if force the mother to sell their house or flat and lock the mother out of the house. The parents who love their children too much may end up in such a situation because when their children were young they pamper them and give them whatever they want all for the sake of their love for them. This is a big mistake for such parents. Be strict with them when they are young or you may change them in greedy monsters. Filial piety was taught to us by our great sage Confucious.

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