What's love?

I knew a rich guy who inherited a lot of money from his father. This was the best son of the lot as he knew how to look after his money, to invest it in property and loans.

The others, mainly because they had enough money to fall back on at any time, did not manage to do any business or had a permanent job. One of them was so arrogant that he hopped from job to job, vacating any job the minute the boss complained about him. He held onto a job as long as he could do as he wished.

So, despite the vast wealth of the dead father, most of his sons found life difficult. The only fortunate thing for them was the amount of money still kept in the bank and not spent on gambling. Except for the guy I knew, if anyone of them had gambled, all the inherited money would have disappeared fast since they had no permanent job.

However, unlike the father and this guy I knew, they knew not how to establish a business of their own. Perhaps, they were pampered by the parents when they were young, thus not even having to be hands on in their father's business and learning nothing at all about business. Seldom does this happen but the fact that there were these children proves that it can happen if parents are too protective and pamper their children with too much leisure time.

The guy, the youngest of the children, who could only hold onto a job as long as the boss allowed him to do as he wished could have been the most pampered, not used to criticism from anybody and allowed to lord over others in the family.

Love needs effort and there can be stress. To teach a child right from wrong, there is need for effort and when a child is stubborn, there would certainly be stress. To let the child have his/her own way even when the child's behaviour is wrong would not require any effort or stress. But to do so, knowing that the future of the child is at stake, there can be no real love for the child, for love dictates that it desires the best present and future for the one loved. To watch a rot start and not take appropriate action to stop it is to not care about the harm the rot can do.

Of course, the parents who pamper their children may think that their pampering is an act of love. Unfortunately, they are definitely wrong for we would certainly do what is right for the child out of love for him/her; not let the rot set in through our efforts. That can never be.