Care for parents provides a little breeze in the evening of life
As the months go by and the year draws to a close, it is often the time for introspection — looking back on things that have made a big difference in one’s life. Like most people, I would say my year was mixed, with both ups and downs.
But there was one moment that gave me the zeal and verve to push ahead. It was a chance glance at a news item about how a company based in Foshan, Guangdong province, had unveiled a filial piety fund. And it set me thinking: Unlike most of the Western world, filial piety is seen as a virtue in China and several other Asian countries, including India.
Although the news item would ordinarily have been dismissed as yet another publicity stunt, it was the uniqueness of the effort that drew me to the story.
Under the system, a worker who allocates part of his salary to his parents would be rewarded with extra money, which is also given to his parents. In other words, the company matches any money staff members pay to their parents.
The news report said that company managers wanted to create a culture of thanksgiving among their workers to remind them not to forget their parents, wherever they were.
According to available data, there were about 230 million people age 60 or older in China as of the end of 2016, or about 17 percent of the population. More than half of them did not live with their children.
Intrigued as I was as I searched the Web, I was surprised to find another news item emanating from Liucun village in Henan province’s impoverished Luoning county. The village also has a filial piety fund to look after the elderly, but with a difference. It has a bulletin board that lists the names of all residents and their children and the contributions made by the children for the upkeep of their parents.
Luoning is home to more than 16,000 residents 70 or older. Its filial piety funds at the beginning of this year totaled 3.87 million yuan ($556,550), mostly from the 40,000-plus children of the county’s elderly, and is set to surge further.
Li Chunguang, head of Luoning’s publicity department, told Xinhua News Agency in a recent report that those whose parents are 70 or older are expected to contribute 100 yuan to the fund each month.
The county government and private donors add a subsidy of up to 50 yuan for each senior.
While reading this I couldn’t help but look back at my encounter with Tom and Mary, a couple from Raleigh, North Carolina, during my recent trip to the United States. Though they were quite happy in the latter part of their lives and getting ready to spend some wellearned months in sunny Florida, there was still that tinge of disappointment in their eyes. They had been left to fend for themselves.
Obviously filial piety was not something that was so common there.
In India, as in China, it is a trait that is ingrained in us. We are brought up with the words Mata, Pita, Guru and Deva, which mean mother, father, teacher and god.
T.B. Nair, an independent commentator from Bengaluru, India, said that noble values like filial piety are diminishing for various reasons, including pressure from the rising cost of living. The younger generation should realize the importance of filial piety, he said.
“A caring culture must begin from the home. Trust me, if we take good care of our parents, our children will also reciprocate when we are old and weak.”
After all, life is not a oneway street.