Old Chinese Story

3_hard_boiled_eggs

3_hard_boiled_eggs

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I was talking in the workroom today about a old story in China.

In one house was 3 generations of the same family. The grandfather, father and grandson. Times were not the best for the family but they had always taken care of each other.

One night when all were asleep but the father and grandson. The father told the grandson that now grandfather was old and could not help on the farm. He only eat food and sleep. This is a waste.

The father said tomorrow we will take him to the mountain and leave him there. I want you to get a rope and together we will take him up the mountain in the morning. Then we will not waste more food.

The next morning the father and grandson tied the rope to the grandfather and pulled him up the steep mountain.

When they got to the top of the mountain the father started to walk back down the mountain. The grandson went and untied the rope that was tied to the grandfather.

The father said don't worry about that rope we have a lot of it in the farm. The grandson replied quickly and said but father I don't want to waste a good rope. Because when I bring you to the mountain I can use this one.


What is you guys thoughts on this story? I want you to give me a moral to it. There seem to be several.
 

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Rope is cheap?
Buy more rope?
Don't teach your kid how to tie a knot?

Many morals indeed!!:D
 
it sounds too much like a thinly veiled parable about the dangers of loose ends in family business ...
 
obviously a family's weak link can never be severed,
as blood is thicker than water.
the rope could be interpreted as a symbol denoting continuity.
here it is visualized that no matter how one seeks to end ties prematurely,
fate would somehow see to the emergence of some other form of continuity within the chain of events to follow.
the choice to follow tradition, it may so appear;
is not a finite choice that we all may choose to break at some point in life.
the question than remains...would such a move would be for the better?
hence a disregard for family ties is an unthinkable precedent.
 
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now that's a distinct possibility.
cut some slack and the noose might just fit a little tighter.
 
GIRLYmann said:
obviously a family's weak link can never be severed,
as blood is thicker than water.
the rope could be interpreted as a symbol denoting continuity.
here it is visualized that no matter how one seeks to end ties prematurely,
fate would somehow see to the emergence of some other form of continuity within the chain of events to follow.
the choice to follow tradition, it may so appear;
is not a finite choice that we all may choose to break at some point in life.
the question than remains...would such a move would be for the better?
hence a disregard for family ties is an unthinkable precedent.
Click to expand...

this story changes as its reread. reread it. you might come to a different answer.

1. is the father teaching the son lessons?
2. is the son teaching the father lessons?
3. does the grandfather know what is going on?
4. did the grandfather and son conspire to teach the father?
5. does the son know that in time his son will do the same to him?
6. is there an answer? maybe there is no answer. or can we say the answer is in the eyes of the beholder?

number 4 is my favorite. as i know in china that many grandparents have a closer relationship with the grandkids than the parents do. i think the son wants to save his grandfather.
 
This story strikes an emotional cord with many. But this is based our culture and our personal perspectives of right and wrong.
Has anyone considered that this is the natural progression of life and that the son has learned his lesson well? That, for them, this is way it has always been? Was the rope to constrain the grandfather or to help him up the mountain?

As a Westerner, we might identify with the grandfather and say, "Why would they do this to me? Why would they abandon me instead of taking care of ME?"

As an Easterner, we might identify with the grandfather and say, "I can no longer serve my family. I have become a burden to them."
 
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yeah, it's so deep alrite!
maybe it's addressing a universal social phobia about abandonment.
it would dawn amongst the old that the young adopts and than adapts in ways much faster, that it inevitably creates an uncertainty for what which is old.
what a great story about "downsizing".
 
glee said:
This story strikes an emotional cord with many. But this is based our culture and our personal perspectives of right and wrong.
Has anyone considered that this is the natural progression of life and that the son has learned his lesson well? That, for them, this is way it has always been? Was the rope to constrain the grandfather or to help him up the mountain?

As a Westerner, we might identify with the grandfather and say, "Why would they do this to me? Why would they abandon me instead of taking care of ME?"

As an Easterner, we might identify with the grandfather and say, "I can no longer serve my family. I have become a burden to them."
Click to expand...

that is so true. i am sorry to say. however not all think this way or want it this way.
 
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