Page 132 - Gan's Family History
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losses so that disaster may stay is only proper that before filial piety
away. come love and care from the parents.
The world has its limit, but Our society, in many respects, is
human desire knows no bounds. undoubtedly a quantum jump
You only need enough food to eat, forward from Yan Zhitui's days.
enough clothes to keep you warm However, the success of our society
and a house for shelter. Set a limit to in educating the young is still
your desire. Do not pursue luxury doubtful.
and do not be enslaved by too many Some parents are being baffled,
desires. A contented mind is a challenged and rebelled against by
perpetual feast. their children. Some have lost their
sense of balance and
The truth about nature and appropriateness while trying to
about the universe is that excess is "catch up" with the changing
dangerous; it incurs penalty. environment and to be "trendy."
Some even choose to neglect, abuse,
COMMENT or abandon their children.
Yan Zhitui lived in a male-dominated Some of us believe that
society, which, as a matter of course, education of the young starts at and
had an impact on his views and even belongs to the school alone. Some
his choice of words. Nevertheless this abrogate their own moral
ought not to hinder us from responsibility and assert that law
appreciating some of the simple, and police are the sole answer to
plain truths that he talked about. crime. We are also labouring under
Speaking of family value, the the notion that money can solve
Chinese tradition regards filial every problem, money can raise our
devotion as the fount of all virtues. A educational standard, money can
loving husband, a faithful friend, or cure social evils - as though we have
a good citizen is, first and foremost, not spent enough already.
a responsible child to his parents. Of We are living in a permissive
all human relations, the relation society. We have so much freedom.
between the child and its parents is But often we are not held responsible
the most fundamental for it for our own behaviour. Our freedom
constitutes the basis of society. is somehow separated from our
Respect for and obligations to the responsibility; our right from our
aged are its natural expression. obligation. Various theories of
But Yan Zhitui does not take behaviour science, or rather pseudo-
filial devotion for granted; he spells behaviour science, try to explain
out the duties of parents explicitly away all sorts of wrongdoings. Family
and emphatically, suggesting that value, conscience, willpower,
parents have to earn it. After all, it is discipline, character building and
not the child who asks to be born. It moral value seem to have ceased to
is the decision of the parents that be meaningful.
brings the child into the world. So it
