What do you do when the mother you love is no longer of Sound Mind?

What do you do when the mother you love is no longer of Sound Mind? -June article, Pg 65-71.

The author's mother had a case of Alzheimer's disease and a serious one. She received many e-mails on her mother's condition and when she received another one, she had to quit her job and fly back home to take care of her mother, with her 78-year-old father. Her father had been wearied out for four and a half years,taking care of her single-handedly. Her mother had become like a child of two years and all she chould do was move herself around. She recognized her husband but that was all. They decided to put her under paliative care, after trying their hardest and deciding that they couldn't take care of her any longer. They didn't have a choice in the matter as her mother would still be well if they did.

Reflection:

I find family bonds the strongest bonds that anyone can ever make, even as the saying goes, "blood is thicker than water." When sickness or diseases or even death comes to break this physical bonding that we have, we usually do nothing but cry and lament, not fully realising that the spiritual bonds are still there. The loss of a loved one is definitely a most deplorable thing to happen but we have no choice in life and death. We can not control the lengthspan of our lives or our memories. When we are seperated from our loved ones through death, we cry because we miss them, but do we still hold them in our memories? If we still do, then there is not much a need to cry although tears still fall.

Aside from seperation, we should cherish whatever time we have with our loved ones now, the good times, the bad times, the sad times. All things past are now memories safely locked in our hearts and minds and as long as we do keep them, we can live on even in the worst of times.

Children often see their parents as naggy and claim that they do not understand their feelings but all parents are trying their best to do what they can to help their children live on as best. They reprimand their children for the benifit of their children but they usually see it as a bother or that their parents do not care about them. If the parent did not want the child to improve, he/she would not have bothered to correct them or scold them when what they are doing is wrong. Still, as the children grow, they should start to understand the pains of being a parent, especially when the family comes from a poor background. Others though, only understand how it is to be a parent when they finally become one.

As parents have duties toward raising their children, children have duties of obedience to their parents as well. Parents are trying their best to cater to their children's needs and so must the children try to do their best. They also have a duty to be taking care of their aged parents when they are old and weak, unable to do much for themselves.