The Heart of the Family: Importance of Elderly Blessings : หน้า 167/207

The elderly represent the heart of the whole family. If their voices that speak of Dhamma, encouragement or caution are absent, it would seem like the family's heart stops functioning. At the same time, the family would not be united. Later, conflict, loneliness, depression, and discouragement would arise in the family. The family's warmth would gradually fall away and then come to an end. Eventually, the only sounds one would hear from the family would be obscenities, quarrels, and the noise produced by alcohol drinking and gambling. A family that understands the importance of a daily blessing by the elderly will teach their children to be well acquainted with paying homage and asking their parents and grandparents for blessings every night before bed. In cases where the grandparents have passed away, the parents would teach their children to pay respect in front of their grandparents' portraits instead. And they would take on the grandparents' role in bringing up their own virtues and good deeds so they could be good role models for their own children. Nowadays, such a routine has departed from Thai families; it has become a cause for family problems such as the increasing rate of divorce, the neglect of elderly parents, etc. In addition, some problems are caused by couples who separated themselves from their extended family to become a nuclear family. The only members of the family unit are the parents and children. As a result, the children seldom receive blessings from their grandparents. When parents fail to realize this and do not take on the grandparents' role for their own children, conflicts consequently arise. Some cases are even worse because individual family members live on their own in the same house. This ruins the relationship between parent and child, while they remain ignorant of the problem's root. If you are part of a nuclear family that has not practiced this tradition, as parents you must discuss this topic. You should ask yourself questions like, "Do you want your family members to live on their own or do you want to transform your family with the honorable Thai tradition that can bring about family unity?" When your parents live far from your family, you must take their place. The suggestion is that the mother should bring the children to pay homage to and ask for a blessing from the father, the head of household first; then homage should be paid to the mother. Practicing this before going to sleep creates a warmhearted family. It is a guarantee that your family unity will be stable. When you reach old-age, you will not be neglected because you have taught your adult children to be grateful since their childhood. They have been well acquainted with paying homage and asking for their parents' blessing. And although they are grown, they will still pay respect to you and their grandparents in the same way. They believe that you have been good providers because they have always gained valuable teachings from you. The Warm Hearted Family 332 Blessing Our Descendants. The Warm Hearted Family 333 Blessing Our Descendants