Wrongfully punished

‘WRONGFULLY Accused” is a comedy movie starring Leslie Nielsen. It has parodies from many other movies and some series, mostly from “The Fugitive,” “Braveheart” and “Titanic.”

On a serious note, to be wrongfully accused, especially in criminal cases, is already stressful. What more if a person is wrongfully convicted and punished? What if this happens within a family? During the last presidential campaign, then Senatorial Aspirant Rafael “Raffy” T. Tulfo said, “Why should the sin of the father become the sin of the son?”

There is truth in what he said. As Deuteronomy 24:16 says, “Fathers shall not be put to death because of their children, nor shall children be put to death because of their fathers. Each one shall be put to death for his own sin.”

Weeks ago, a family friend (married and a breadwinner) asked for counsel. He narrated that he has two elder half-brothers who are his dependents because they have lost their jobs and did not strive to find one. He shells out P30,000 a month for their living expenses plus medicines. He has been doing that for the past five years.

In effect, a culture of dependency ensured. He effectively became his brothers’ ATM. Fortunately, his wife did not complain on his generosity as this had an effect on their family finance. Early this year one of his brothers felt unwell and sought medical treatment in a prestigious hospital where he got a private room.

Amusingly, this hospital is a firm advocate of surgery (Their motto is, “Delaying your surgery is not an option”). For a one-week stay, the hospital bill amounted to P400,000. My friend had no choice but to pay. Then after a month, the same brother felt unwell again (due to his irresponsibility towards his health) and for another week of confinement, the bill was P800,000. Again, my friend had no choice. He paid out a total of P1.2 million for his brother.

The sad thing was that he nearly underwent surgery due to misdiagnosis. Effectively he became the medical insurance provider to his brother. The money he saved over the years was wiped out in just two months. Now, my friend and his wife are always in a heated argument because if emergency strikes, they will be in a financial disaster. Not only that, his brother has the risk of being hospitalized again owing to his numerous health conditions.

If that risk becomes real, he has no choice again but to pay but, this time, from borrowed money. The former financially-stable person is now a hairline away from poverty, thanks to his irresponsible brother.

Apparently, it will look like he is the one who is very irresponsible in managing his finances. The sins of his brother became his sin and, contrary to the Bible verse, he was wrongfully punished for the sins of his brother.

Here is the thing: we all profess love for our family; it must not only be via lip service. It has to have action. If we truly love our family, we have to make it a point not to be a financial burden to anyone of them because we have no right to be a hindrance to their financial journey.

Otherwise, we will be the one who will cause their money to be wasted unnecessarily. When we begin to earn our own income, it is imperative that we start saving money as much as possible. In short, saving money is equivalent to loving your family and avoiding slapping them the punishment not due them.

Here are the different ways to save money as your way of showing love for your family members:

1. Save for emergency. As early as your first salary, begin to save at least 20 percent of your income in a bank account. Before, the rule was to save up an equivalent of 6 months living expenses. But because of the Covid-19 pandemic, it is recommended to make it at least 1 year living expenses. When emergency strikes, you do not have to panic. At the same time, you don to have to bother your family members.

2. Save for hospitalization.

Savings is not always about putting money in the bank. When we save, we want to be able to pay for any event that comes along the way. We can save for hospitalization in case we fall sick but saving money the traditional way will not be of help.

3. Save for long-term treatment.

When critical illnesses such as cancer strike, it will be a big financial drain as the treatment is long term. It can be a combination of hospitalization and home care. Sometimes the treatment may reach up to P6 million depending on the severity of the disease. Without the much-needed fund, we do not stand a chance of beating critical illnesses.

4. Save for the inevitable.

We all cannot avoid death and, when we die, there are expenses connected with our death. We can prevent letting our family members suffer from our death by buying ourselves life insurance. Life insurance can cover cost associated with our demise. Nobody is responsible to ourselves except us.

Saving is a must. Start saving early. Plan ahead so as not to punish the ones you love: your family.