Work and Talk: Bonds of servitude

I am 'between jobs' at the moment. Not unemployed, just underemployed, the trials and tribulations of self-employment. It is often difficult to fill a schedule just after summer and with such a long summer this year, it seems a little more so. I am in a business of no work, no pay, so long summer breaks and slow schedules take their toll on the finances.

What is pretty cool about the way I have built my Steem account is that despite my IRL financial issues, I am still able to help people out a little on some way either for their immediate benefit but I hope, for their long-term position. The more this platform grows, the more people will appreciate the versatility of the Steem in the wallet and what they are able to do with it.

Someone mentioned 'paying it forward' yesterday which I agree with but, it should not come at a heavy expense to building one's own position. My father taught me that, as he is now completely reliant on others (@galenkp and wife) for his life. He gave until there was nothing left to give. A good man but the problem is that there was still more life to live and potentially a lot more space to help, but his hands were tied without resources. Not only that, he becomes a burden on others financially which limits their own life.

I want to be able to provide adequate space for my daughter to live, not tether her to the responsibility of caring for me. There is unspoken responsibility on children but, parents should never take it for granted nor count on it being there. As I wrote on my post yesterday, all things in life are subject to change.

This includes culture, society and all relationships. Everything ends except maybe the near unconditional love of parent for child. This doesn't automatically mean child for parent though, a child's love must be earned, grown, maintained, supported. Absence only makes the heart grow fonder when the relationship is strong.

I feel there are too many absent parents these days who sit behind screens expecting that when the time comes, their children will be there. Though when that time comes, they may not know who their children will have become, as they may never have truly watched them grow, were never truly present. Weak bonds.

Communities are made and broken on the relationships within and expectation, assumption, ingratitude and complacency do not build strong bonds. Neither does charity alone. Friendships that endure lifetimes are built on moments shared, as are loves that go the distance. Take out the interactive experiences of relationships, the experiencing together, and the bond will erode.

For me, I don't know what the future holds but I know what was present in my past and, I want better for my daughter. I plan on her never needing to compromise her life financially for me and when I am old, the only currency she need choose to spend on me is her time. The most valuable asset we have, and one we too often waste.

For anything of substance to grow, it takes time. Time wasted waiting is not time well spent, time invested into relationships and people is though because it supports a community that can spend more time with more of the people within it. No one has time anymore and then wonder why feelings of loneliness and depression are increasing. Everyone is too busy for anyone else now but think one day, the firm bonds of strong relationships will magically appear.

There is no magic.

Taraz
[ a Steem original ]
_{(posted from phone)}