My parents have their faults and I could be cynical and say they taught me self-sufficiency; that you shouldn't expect anything from anybody, even your parents, but that would be short-changing them. My father taught me to work hard. He'd work a full working day, come home, eat his tea, and then do foreigners until 11pm. If it was for pensioners, he'd never charge them what he should, even though it meant he had to work longer and harder. He's not a social person at all but he believes in community and that we should help each other and not see each other opportunistically.
My mother came to become one of those racists who learn it from a newspaper, without actually speaking to people from other cultures. When she does speak to people, she always finds the common ground and always gets along with them. When she says, "they're actually nice people", it stabs at my heart a little as if the newspaper's judgement of "they're coming here, stealing our jobs" is worth believing blindly, but the positive is that she does make the effort and does genuinely like people regardless of what she reads.
Both parents love animals and both have a sense of right and wrong that is observed without ever being talked about. I've never known either break even the most minor of laws (littering or speeding, say). They're a long way away from being role models, but plenty of people are set an example that the world owes them a livelihood (it doesn't), that crime is okay as long as you get away with it (it isn't), and that nobody really cares about anything at all (they do).
What did your parents teach you?
← View full post
My parents have their faults and I could be cynical and say they taught me self-sufficiency; that you shouldn't expect anything from anybody, even your parents, but that would be short-changing them. My father taught me to work hard. He'd work a full working day, come home, eat his tea, and then do foreigners until 11pm. If it was for pensioners, he'd never charge them what he should, even though it meant he had to work longer and harder. He's not a social person at all but he believes in community and that we should help each other and not see each other opportunistically.
My mother came to become one of those racists who learn it from a newspaper, without actually speaking to people from other cultures. When she does speak to people, she always finds the common ground and always gets along with them. When she says, "they're actually nice people", it stabs at my heart a little as if the newspaper's judgement of "they're coming here, stealing our jobs" is worth believing blindly, but the positive is that she does make the effort and does genuinely like people regardless of what she reads.
Both parents love animals and both have a sense of right and wrong that is observed without ever being talked about. I've never known either break even the most minor of laws (littering or speeding, say). They're a long way away from being role models, but plenty of people are set an example that the world owes them a livelihood (it doesn't), that crime is okay as long as you get away with it (it isn't), and that nobody really cares about anything at all (they do).