Here I have heard many times that people accuse the younger generation of not having respect. This is very strange for me because respect is very important. In one of our scriptures it is also explained that the respect for older people is a must. When we hear that the young generation is accused of being disrespectful we have to think and analyze it why it is so. What is the reason? Why have they become disrespectful? What has happened that has made them like this? What did we do wrong?
There must be a reason. If we try to analyze why young people could not create these feelings, then I will say that there must be a lack of love which has made them in this way disrespectful because I think that love and respect depend on each other. A touch and a hug of love were missing. The deep communication was missing and that has developed an attitude in them which makes them disrespectful.
I have seen often that people create a distance between themselves and others in order not to lose their freedom and when the next generation sees this and grows up in this atmosphere, what else will they follow? They also will not want to come close and will maintain a superficial relation from far away which is like a formality without a lot of feelings. There was no room to develop these feelings. And that is how families are going apart. And if there is no feeling between the family members the older generation in their old age has to find a place like a home for old people to spend the rest of the life there because there is nobody to look after them. And one day the children get the news that they are not more and they make the last formality to attend the funeral.
That is what the relation was. No closeness or feelings. Nobody could really share anything. I cannot imagine the pain of that person who, even after having everything else, is forced to live in the old people’s house because their own family is not there to look after them. There is someone who is being paid for this but not really anybody who has the closeness and feelings in the evening of their lives.
But I don’t really like it when all the blame goes to the younger generation. I think they are not alone responsible for this situation. Everybody has to think about the reason why this problem came. And when we see this we have the chance to change and create a relation in which sharing and closeness is possible.
Today in the evening we went to the Christmas market in Wiesbaden. It was a very nice atmosphere and we had a nice warm chocolate in the cold temperature outside.
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I am from the West and I cannot empathize with your response, Swami Ji, although I enjoyed reading it. I’m 32, and I was quit a rebellious child. I never respected my parents or my elders because of all the pain they caused me. When I was very young I did not understand their senseless rules or why they would be angry for no reason. As an adult I understand more but still cannot give automatic respect to the elderly. I recognize that some children, some aged 20 30 40 50 60 110 years are worth respecting and some are not.
Giving respect and looking compassionately upon all people will make you happy and help others to respect you as well.