When I was young and broke, I asked my father for financial help. I was starving. Literally…so malnourished my teeth were loose. I was working my way through school, struggling both due to being naive and having to work nights so I could attend classes in the day time. I was paying my own tuition and rent, as my father refused to help with those either. This was hard to understand, given that he himself was a professor and understood the value of education. He told me “A real man takes care of himself, and never asks anyone for money”.
Fine. I never asked him again. Instead I ended up homeless for a few months, and then living in a single room illegally rented in someone’s basement for the remainder of my college years. But, In the end I graduated, got better jobs and eventually, over 30 years, made my way up the corporate ladder to an executive position with very generous compensation.
My father then called, after decades of minimal contact, to explain that there was a lien on his property and he needed money or he would lose it.
I told him what he told me: “A real man takes care of himself and never asks anyone for money”.
People, but especially parents, tend to forget that one day the tables will be turned through age and time, and that you reap what you sow. Abusive, negligent and manipulative parents deserve what they eventually get.
