Out of Pod Experience

Woa, talk about a brutal and demolishing honesty attack

I read the letter entirely, and I am at the age stage of my life (nearing 40) where I truly wish I had listened to my parents or taken more advantage of their offers for foreign education for instance, or listening to them regarding career choices.

But like most things in life such things come with experience, experience that comes usually too late after it is worth anything at all in your life, and all you can do is pass it to someone else.

In a sense I can totally understand the angry man writing that letter. I have felt the same seeing the train wreck some relatives and close friends embarked upon when I was seeing the choices they were making. Even to this day I still see some friends struggling with horrendous life choices they took, and if they had taken a bit of advice, they would be different, or perhaps, just happier.

Like a former friend of mine once told me "its like watching a beautiful cruise ship, slowly sink, and you, on the shore, far away unable to do anything, anything at all, Im sorry, but I cant stand this".

Life choices, partner choices, job choices ... we taking choices all the time, and most of them not the best ones, based on whim. Choice is such an important topic for me, I have even given lectures for free regarding it to young teens in school close to graduation.

Choice.

I see no fault in the father. He just spoke bluntly and directly from the heart, and honesty is in my book a precious commodity I see more and more scarce around me as I grow older and live 8 hours a day , 5 days a week in the working world, detached from the world placed head on into a strange place, where people cant be honest about anything.

Anyway, wished to share this. Life decisions, a topic so vast and convoluted, yet interesting.

Have a Happy Day!

Cheers!

It's easier to join the funtime crowd when young, this alone is the biggest risk to career progression, other than the guy that stands shoulder-to-shoulder with you until an opportunity to make you look bad makes him/her look good.

He sounds like a typical overbearing, unsympathetic parent who typically blame their kids for not turning out amazing because they were either a) working all the time or b) unsupportive/unloving. As a parent myself, with less than stellar parents of my own, I'm pretty damn sure the buck stops with me if my kids turn out to be scrublords.

Guess he should've just hit them harder

People actually admire a self serving, silly letter like that? If this is an example of his parenting skills it's no wonder his children turned out to be disappointing to him. Writing a letter to a public forum, a letter that shows no regard to any of his children as individuals and that makes no actual points except to say that they are failures, is not honest, or moving, or helpful in the the slightest. The man's a jackass.

If you had children and they did something bad in school, would your response be to wait until an assembly, run up on stage and then proceed to embarrass the child relentlessly? Yeah that's love right there, I mean, if you're a narcissist.

Why... in the ****... is THIS news...

If they're doing it everyday, only complaining, only bemoaning the injustice and personal failure every phone call, then they are literally injuring their mother. Who's supposed to look out for the feelings and mental health of that mother? Her husband.

The kids are grown up, they're in their forties for goodness' sake. The job of protecting and aiding their children to mature may have been poor, but it is over. As grandparents, their job is to help balance out the raising of their grandchildren. Kids should get discipline, love, encouragement, and candy. The candy is where the grandparents come in. (Yes that's a metaphor.)

Was Dad right to do what he did? Yes. Did he have to do it as a result of his own failures as parent? Probably. It was still the right thing to do, to protect his wife.

Maybe they were

Can't wait till I go senile, it'll be great (for everyone that can remember later)

I think depression has already been in play for awhile, and he's only made things worse by doing this.

Also have a strong suspicion alcohol played a role in it being written, and if that's the case, i'm sure he regrets it now instead of feeling relieved. If they're lucky the entire thing will serve as a catalyst to bring them closer together, but more likely the family is just shattered beyond hope.