In eastern societies, everyone is familiar with filial piety. Filial piety was introduced as part of Confucian beliefs during the Eastern Zhou dynasty. It is a value of respecting parents and elders in order to create harmonious family relationships. The concept of filial piety is abstract, so many people misunderstand it. However, in the modern world, people should not twist the concept of filial piety in their minds.
The virtue of “filial”
The virtue of filial piety is creating good family relationships. In order for children to build up a good relationship with their parents, they should help their parents when their parents are suffering. This is important for every family.
For example, over the last eight years, my uncle has visited and taken care of my grandfather every weekend because Grandpa is suffering from Parkinson’s Disease. My uncle also took over my grandfather’s job since my grandfather is not able to go to work. Therefore, my uncle and my grandfather have built a strong father-and-son relationship, which means that my uncle understands the concept of filial piety.
Why some people misunderstand filial piety
However, there are many people, especially children, who twist filial piety in their minds. Some children don’t understand filial piety because these children assume that building a good family relationship means that they should never disobey their parents, no matter what. These children are then afraid of rejecting their parents since they believe that rejection harms family relationships.
Let’s say Joshua does not have any clue about his future, so he asked his parents for advice. His parents said that being a computer engineer is the best future for him. However, Joshua did not consider his own interests and assumed that filial piety was simply doing what he was told, so he blindly accepted advice from his parents.
In the end, it might turn out that Joshua dislikes being a computer engineer because he did not follow his heart. Joshua then may blame his parents after he got his job, which would of course harm the relationship between him and his parents.
What parents and kids should do
Movie director Ang Lee said that, “Parents and children should always love each other.” Family members should work together to create harmonious family relationships. In order to achieve this, parents should teach children the essence of filial piety, but also cultivate children into people who are willing to express their thoughts and opinions.
Conclusion
Children ought to not misunderstand filial piety. Children should remember that filial piety does not mean always obeying their parents, and children should feel free to reject their parents if needed. Kids should listen to their parents, but there is a limitation for this, and this is what filial piety truly means.
Indeed, filial piety does not mean always obeying parents, the meaning of filial piety should be extended to the cultivation of mature thought and behavior of children, while building trust, cohesive, and harmonious relationship between parents and children.