2nd January 2023<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Do we really honour our fathers and mothers? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Let\u2019s first view some statistics from Age UK<\/em>, concerning issues for the elderly in the UK.<\/p>\n\n\n\n These statistics seem to point to a lot of elderly people who are being let down. We usually use the phrase \u2018let down by the system\u2019 but then we have to ask, what is the system? <\/em>Is it the State\u2019s responsibility to be the primary carers for our elderly \u2026 or their own sons and daughters?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Of course, as the family statistics already indicated, families are shrinking and there\u2019s a good chance many of these elderly folk won\u2019t have children. But many will, so what has happened to honouring our father and mother?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n With the \u2018original model\u2019, with parents living close by their children or even in the same house, primary care is not an issue. Even though there may be State involvement, it would be at the children\u2019s initiative. But in our new \u2018western model\u2019, can there not be a hint of, out of sight out of mind<\/em>? Children who have done well financially may well be happy to forgo their inheritance and be unconcerned to see it channelled into the pockets of a care home. They possibly feel their consciences are salved and that an occasional visit to the \u2018old \u2018uns\u2019 would be the sum total of their responsibility. Is this honouring their parents? Of course, this is a can of worms as there will be children, because of circumstances, unable to honour their parents in the way they would like. What I am looking at here is the \u2018bigger picture\u2019 in our modern society of the ease with which many children would hand their parents over to the State for their welfare in their \u2018latter years\u2019. Once we give the State control of our parents, then we find ourselves in a very different environment, with a very different moral framework than if we were nurturing them within the extended family home. Here are a couple of worrying facts:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Honour your father and your mother \u2026<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Before we round this up, we need to be aware that honouring parents is not just an activity we do when they are most needy i.e. when they are old and dependent. There is no time marker on this command. We need to honour them at all stages of our relationship with them, whether as a dependent child or an independent adult. We need to give them the respect they deserve purely through who they are. We may think that they don\u2019t need our respect, in fact we may mostly take them for granted, but they will always deserve<\/em> our respect, because that is what the Commandment implores us to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We return to the basic message. Society has changed enormously since Bible times. Community living has given way to narrower horizons, driven by the individualism that encourages us to live lives of personal ambition and to pursue happiness. Subtle indoctrination of humanistic philosophy has assured us that the State knows best<\/em> and your conscience is clear, hand over your burdens to us<\/em>. Of course, there will be scenarios, perhaps where you simply don\u2019t have the space, time or resources, when you are forced to rely on the NHS or private care homes. But the point being made here is a general one, not a specific one. Our society encourages the fragmentation of community, particularly multi-generation family living. Go west young man \u2026 and seek your fortune<\/em>. So, it is up to us all individually to decide, given our particular circumstance, whether we are honouring our parents or not. More so for Christians who are still bound by the fifth commandment, to examine their consciences before God and decide whether they are truly giving honour in the way that God would want them to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By way of contrast, The Sinner\u2019s Charter would probably read something like this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\u00b7 The wholesale drugging of the elderly in both private and public nursing homes has reached epidemic levels, with the use of anti-psychotics, anti-anxiety drugs (tranquilizers) and antidepressants. Patients are being harmed and their lives cut short as a direct result. These drugs are highly dangerous when prescribed to anyone, but when prescribed to the elderly the risks for diabetes, stroke and sudden death are greatly increased. (Citizens Commission on Human Rights UK<\/em>)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\u00b7 Surveys suggest most UK doctors support legal assisted dying, and most people want it. A series of articles published by The BMJ today, explore the debate around assisted dying, in which, subject to safeguards, terminally ill people who are near to death, suffering, and of sound mind, could ask for drugs that they would take to end their lives \u2026 Jacky Davis, Consultant Radiologist at the Whittington Hospital in London, points to a recent survey showing that most UK doctors support legislation for assisted dying, while a 2015 poll showed that about 80% of the UK public support a change in the law. Yet the BMA, which represents UK doctors, has long been opposed to assisted dying, despite calls for it to adopt a neutral stance. (British Medical Journal)<\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n