Think and act wisely in the face of responsibility.

Two days ago, I heard this true story about a couple who spent all their savings in order to send their only child to study in Britain. The son passed his final examination and, with a degree, went on to work in Britain where he met the girl of his dreams, a British lady. Their meeting ended on a happy note with the couple married to each other and the boy's parents so happy that their beloved child has found bliss in Britain.

Initially, the boy's parents merely went over to Britain for a visit to see the young couple and to enjoy a holiday there. Everything was fine and they returned home after a few weeks with photographs to show other relatives how well their son was doing in Britain, the beautiful home of the young couple and, oh!, what a wonderful place that was.

Now that their son was permanently residing in Britain, a dream appear. They dream of staying with their son in his home. So, they planned to do just that. And once again, they were in Britain enjoying the place and, of course, depending upon the son for everything as they were no longer working.

Unfortunately, their daughter-in-law was born and bred in Britain where children are expected to be on their own once they have achieved financial independence. Likewise, parents do not live on their children's salary. Well, I don't know but I believe they have something called welfare for those non-working citizens.

Nevertheless, one day, the daughter-in-law told the husband's parents that they have to pay for the rent. Obviously, they were in no position to pay for anything substantial.

Not wishing to disrupt the peace and bliss of their son's family, they had no alternative but to return to their country; back to their own little home.

According to some comments received, there are some who perceive that the daughter-in-law was cruel, that their son should have enquired into the sudden change in plans of the parents; that the parents in this case was stupid to have spent so much money on their child and brought themselves into poverty.

When it comes to the daughter-in-law, it is always so easy to not understand things but fault the girl. she was brought up in a culture where that was the practice and therefore, in her mind, there was no wrong done. Similarly, you do not fault a Muslim for not eating pork or a Buddhist for not eating beef because that is part of their Muslim or Buddhist upbringing. Right or wrong, that is the practice. We have to understand that our practices are all different, be it religious or cultural difference and no one ought to be considered wrong in the practice he/she is brought up in.

As for the parents, they ought to love their child enough to do whatever they could to give him nothing but the best possible. From this story, it is obvious that parents ought to be wise too. They have a responsibility to themselves too; to ensure that whatever finances left is sufficient to see them through to the end of their days. They ought not to depend upon the charity of their child.

From this, we can clearly see that that nobody else, but ourselves, are the only ones responsible for us. Therefore, we ought to act wisely and responsibly.