There are very few people I love more in this world than my abuelita. My amazing viejita is almost 100 years old, and she is not only the sweetest and most selfish woman I've ever met, but she's the only grandparent I was lucky to meet. I'd give anything to see her beautiful face on a daily basis, but she lives back in Peru. While this is difficult for me to deal with, I know it's even harder for my mom who hasn't lived near her own mamá in almost 30 years.
Why anyone lucky enough to live in the same city as their elderly parents or grandparents not visit them on a regular basis is beyond my comprehension. And yet, the Chinese government has deemed it necessary to enact a law that requires people to visit their elders or face being sued. How crazy is that?
Read more ¿Qué más?: 8 Beauty secrets from my abuela that really work!
Well, apparently not too much. Chinese elderly parents have been having such a hard time getting their adult children to visit them or keep in touch with them that they've been suing them for failing to provide them with the emotional support they require. As of today, these elderly people have a law to back them up. I can't believe it!
Then again, I guess I can. have a few friends in this country–none of them Latino, though–who live in the same city as their aging parents and barely make the time to go see them. Some have parents in retirement homes, and feel like they're well taken care of there so they fail to see the need to spend time with them on a regular basis.
My mom works in a hospital as a respiratory therapist and tells me that the most heartbreaking cases she encounters are those of the elderly who spend weeks on end without so much as a phone call from their offspring. How is that even possible? I don't know, but maybe a law similar to the one in China should be enacted here so that adult children can finally give our elders the importance–and emotional support–they deserve.
Image via Thinkstock
