So much for your ideas. I was hoping someone would write me about how our theoretical values on human life in this country, illustrated in our health care system, and emphasized in our religion, square with greater punishments for people who destroy property than those who destroy lives. But I know this is a situation much more complex than we can figure out without a long discussion and a careful examination of the sources of the decisions made. Still I would like to keep this value in mind all the time when we encounter individual cases.
But by last night when I was perhaps supposed to be writing more about this on the log, I was deeply involved in a discussion with friends about the changing role of parents and children in contemporary societry and in this country. Most of us, children of Holocaust survivors, have always felt a sense of responsibility for our parents, accompanied often by a sense of disdain for their strangeness in the contemporary society. Now that they are unable to take care of themselves, we are not only cognizant of the amazing complexity of their past lives, but also their absolute dependece upon us. Even though I lost my parents over twnety years ago, my sense of responsibility for them only grows and much of what i do now is connected with preserving their memory in a manner that is appropriate for them.
On the other hand we parents in Israel play an important role in our children’s lives. I don’t know anyone my age in Israel who isn’t contributing in some major way to their children’s lives. This could be with money, with child care, and/or with food.
You bet I mean Arabs as well as Jews. I think the increased care we take with our children has something to do with a diminished trust in the society and government.
Recent Comments