RSKY
Veteran Member
- Joined
- Oct 5, 2003
- Messages
- 2,479
- Tractor
- Kioti CK20S
I recently read a column by a woman who was explaining why she chose to have no children. She said her mother got pregnant with her and did her motherly duty and raised her until she turned eighteen and started college. Since that day she had very little contact with her mother, maybe three or four times a year. Her mother wasn't hateful to her or anything but had gone back to work full time, trying to make up for the years she had 'lost' while raising her daughter. This lady said her mother once told her how much further she could have gone in the business world if she hadn't got pregnant and had to give up her career for so many years raising a child. Said she could have been rich and powerful. Said she could have become "somebody" So the author made up her mind to never have children and instead to make something of herself in the world. She searched for and married a man who, like her, did not want children but instead wanted to concentrate on being a success in business and on being rich and powerful. The lady told how her and her husband were now wealthy and took long vacations and trips around the world dining in exotic places the 'normal' person never got to see.
I read this on a Saturday night and the tone of the article bothered my sleep. I could not get the woman off my mind.
The next day, Sunday, after church, as usual, our entire bunch came to our house for Sunday dinner. I sat at one end of our large table. On either side of me were our two sons-in-law, next to them were our two daughters. Next sitting across from each other were our laughing six year old and two year old granddaughters, the loudest pair at the table. Finally at the other end of the table sat my wife and beside her the six month old youngest granddaughter in a highchair next to her Granna. I watched my wife and the look on her face as she interacted with this group was beyond priceless. There are some things that simply cannot be bought and the joy and laughter at that table is worth more than all the money in the world.
The article I had read the night before flashed thru my mind and I wondered how that selfish woman would feel when she retired to her large mansion that nobody ever came to visit. She had her picture hanging on the wall in some corporate boardroom but a few years after she retired who would even remember her name? Who would hold her hand as she grew old? Who would care for her when she became ill? Would anyone cry when she passed from this world?
Sometimes people make decisions not realizing what the really important things are in the world. Or maybe the really important things don't become apparent until one is older and cannot change the direction of their life. Age comes on us and suddenly the little things become the important things. Our mortality becomes apparent to us and cry of "Granna" or "Granddaddy" becomes more precious than gold.
And as I think of that poor selfish woman sitting in her mansion all I can feel is pity.
RSKY
I read this on a Saturday night and the tone of the article bothered my sleep. I could not get the woman off my mind.
The next day, Sunday, after church, as usual, our entire bunch came to our house for Sunday dinner. I sat at one end of our large table. On either side of me were our two sons-in-law, next to them were our two daughters. Next sitting across from each other were our laughing six year old and two year old granddaughters, the loudest pair at the table. Finally at the other end of the table sat my wife and beside her the six month old youngest granddaughter in a highchair next to her Granna. I watched my wife and the look on her face as she interacted with this group was beyond priceless. There are some things that simply cannot be bought and the joy and laughter at that table is worth more than all the money in the world.
The article I had read the night before flashed thru my mind and I wondered how that selfish woman would feel when she retired to her large mansion that nobody ever came to visit. She had her picture hanging on the wall in some corporate boardroom but a few years after she retired who would even remember her name? Who would hold her hand as she grew old? Who would care for her when she became ill? Would anyone cry when she passed from this world?
Sometimes people make decisions not realizing what the really important things are in the world. Or maybe the really important things don't become apparent until one is older and cannot change the direction of their life. Age comes on us and suddenly the little things become the important things. Our mortality becomes apparent to us and cry of "Granna" or "Granddaddy" becomes more precious than gold.
And as I think of that poor selfish woman sitting in her mansion all I can feel is pity.
RSKY
