THE Temuka Leader. TUESDAY, AUGUST 17, 1926. HONOUR THY FATHER AND THY MOTHER.

Temuka Leader, Issue 10978, 17 August 1926, Page 2

THE Temuka Leader. TUESDAY, AUGUST 17, 1926. HONOUR THY FATHER AND THY MOTHER.

In these (lays when life is so swift that everybody appears to be making an effort to crowd into it the maximum of what, in common phraseology, is termed “having a good time,’' it would appear as if the time-honoured instruction contained in the Fifth Commandment is becoming irksome to the rising generation. It is a 'very noticeable and deployabe fact, remarked on by .careful observers the wide- .worldover, that respect for and sympathy with the aged is not what it used to be, and men and women are wondering why. Our Hospital and Charitable Aid Boards have plenty of first-hand evidence of the desire of families to shirk a responsibility, in re-

gard to parents which is not merely a duty but should be a pleasure, if and when the old people have done their best for their children, in most instances at great personal sacrifice. The chairman of...the Auckland Hospital ' Board (Mr William Wallace) said recently in regard to. the number of cases there were at the beginning of each winter where*sons and daughters.wished: to get their parents into the Old People's House, now known as the Infirmary: “it is one of the scandals of our times- that child-ren-in well-to-do positions, many of them paying considerable income tax, do not care for their aged relatives as they should do. The Infirmary is first of ail,” lie said, “for the aged poor who have no home whatever, and they always have the first consideration, but it is enough to make a person s, blood boil when people ask to have their relatives admitted, and acknowledge that they are able to pay full fees for them. They just want to be free of all care concerning (hose who 1 should really be their first thought and attention. When ,i (hey arc in a position to pay full 1 lees it is clearly their duty to 1 care for their aged relatives in their own homes, and not want ,{ to put them in the infirmary;* 1 i There is a lack of reverence for 1

tire aged these days which is sad to sec, and if daylight could be let in to allow the public to see the kind of applications which come under our notice it would be an eye-opener in the social life of our city.’' Tire why of the situation, to our mind, is not difficult to discover. "Whilst admitting that in many cases the ultraPuritanical severity of many of the old-time pioneer families was responsible for the growth of a spirit of rebellion against religion and religious institutions, amongst their offspring, many of whom we have heard declare that they untended, when they got married, to bring up their children differently, we are satisfied that does not account for everything. Parents should remember that there is such a weapon as the boomerang, and when children' arc given a dan gerous weapon, no one should be surprised if they injure themselves when using it, if not carefully instructed and trained beforehand. So it is with a freedom which is allowed to degenerate into license. Our police and’ criminal courts daily remind ns that so-and-so’s children are not under proper control. The parents have shirked their responsibilities; can they wonder if in their own old age the children turn and shirk theirs. While parents are to'blame, so arc the religions teachers, many of whom are too namby-pamby, afraid to hit out, preferring to preach to the principal interest—the money bags and popularity. And yet it would be expecting more than the human to ask these men lo take up a strong denuueSatory attitude towards many of the shortcomings of their flocks, the' providers of the sinews of war. To expect this of them would require that they be almost" supermen, or else provided with the salary of a Supreme Court Judge, with all its safeguards and assurances of continuity in office whatever- happens. Parents, preachers and teachers alike -require to be reminded that" each,to do -effective Avork, must be faithful in the various spheres of duty in Avhicli they are called upon to operate, and each should endeavour to impress on the ; young child life of the community its duty to old age and -the fcAvard attaching to it, in very truth the ouly .- Commandment villi promise ;".' ‘‘Honour Iby father and thy mother that thy days may be long in the land Avliich the Lord thy God giveth thee.”