I was gone for conferences, 8 days over the last two weeks, and when I came back, my 5 year old son, whom is my responsibility (eat, sleep, etc), has become more attached to my wife. This really beg the question how much do kids really remember what we have done for them? it appears to be all short term memory. Certainly I hope the sacrifice we made for them now, they will somehow remember later in life, and appreciate it.
In some cases, what we need to do is actually raising them all we can, and then reminding them while they are growing up what we did for them. While some people say parents should not expect return from kids, and having kids and seeing them grow up are reward enough, I strongly disagree. If a kid I raised will not even appreciate what parents have done for him/her, how could this person growing up being a good man/woman? if a friend has done even 50% of what a parent has done for a kid, a person will be so grateful (eternally) and will be happy to repay in kind, why we should not expect the kids to feel the same way towards the parents?
of course, whether parents will accept such sacrifice from their kids in the future is a different story. but I think the society has evolved in such a way to make it almost immoral for a parent to accept a grownup child’s sacrifice, how ridiculous. This has evolution reason, historically, but should be seen as what it is now.
Well, I have been silent for 2 months, as nov-dec are my teaching time … life back to seminormal now.
We spent christmas in Bahamas and stayed at Atlantis, and it is amazing to see the kind of wealth being shown in that place. We took a taxi to see the place where the local people live (called over the hill area), the contrast is beyond description.
One thing that gets me to think is that many of us adopts a profession, and then try to be the best in that profession, oblivion of what other people are doing in other professions. But if we keep our eyes open, we can probably play the kind of intellectual arbitrage that will allow us to achieve much bigger success. for example, imaging a business school professor from Wharton or Harvard as a high end real estate agent? I think it is important that we do not get fixed on what we are doing now, and we should be ready to take on opportunities wherever and whenever they materialize.
