Are You Willing to Live with Your Parents?

There is one thing which has been strongly impressed on my memory and made me not to forget it until now.

Two months ago, I went to the emergency department of North York General Hospital for my twisted ankle. During the wait, I noticed an old woman sitting there and waiting for the examination results, she only wore the thin examination gown and holding her arms because of the cold. I looked around her and she had nobody accompaning her. After a while, she couldn't stand the cold and went to the examine room to ask for her clothes. She took her clothes standing there and looked like she did not to know where to change because all examination rooms were closed. So I asked her over to my examination room and helped her change clothes. She told me her shoulder couldn't move freely and the doctor just asked her to exercise and exercise. I asked her why nobody accompanied her to see the doctor. She told me she has three children, one in Banff, the other two in Ottawa and Vancouver, and she lived alone. She explained that they were so busy. When she left, she said to me that good people were all healthy. Looking at her stumbling figure, I felt a little sad.

In modern society, the aging population is increasingly becoming a serious problem. Those baby boomers are all old and they are facing the problem of how to deal with old age. Their children are all middle-aged at the peak of their careers and try to their best to achieve the most in their job and make money to support their family for a better life. They are heavily stressed with job and life and they seem to have no time to take care of their parents. The same is true in China. We call the old people living alone "empty-nest elders". The sad news about these old people is often seen in the newspapers, such as when they are sick and nobody knows or helpe. Although there are many nursing centres for senior people, could they be the only one solution?

I throw myself the same question. My short answer is to live together with your parents, at least in the same city. A Chinese saying goes "having an elder at home is like having a treasure." You take care of them and at the same time you also enjoy caring from them. They are willing to help you in life. Imagie that when you return home, dinner is ready or your children care by themselves when you are busy. Don't these situations make you happy? Maybe you can't live together with your
parents because of some reasons, but at least live near them. When you are free, you can often visit them easily to get to know their needs and let them feel the happiness of family.

I don't know what happened to that old woman. But, I hope that lonely figure is not a picture of my parents, so nor yours.