Some believe that younger family members should be legally responsible for supporting older family members when they become physically, mentally and financially unable to look after themselves. To what extent do you agree or disagree?

Some societies nowadays have lost their sense of
responsibility
for the well-being of older family members, preferring to leave their elderly relatives in specialised government establishments.
While
there is a serious concern about whether certain
rules
should be imposed on young generations to oblige them to look after their
parents
, I would argue that it is sufficient for
this
responsibility
to remain at the cultural level. On one side, it feels correct that young
people
should be responsible for supporting their
parents
and other elderly generations. During their youth,
parents
put a great effort into providing their children with a good environment in terms of their education, food and healthcare,
thus
deserving a similar level of care later in life.
However
, imposing strict
rules
for the support of older
people
would break the fundamental concept of democracy.
Therefore
, countries that create
such
rules
can no longer be counted as democratic.
Furthermore
, it will
also
raise an array of nuances.
For example
,
people
who were abandoned in childhood could be sued by their biological
parents
for lack of attention, which makes
this
rule unfair. Another problem is that
such
regulations would make supporting elderly
people
a burden and a chore rather than the result of personal care. In countries where
rules
oblige
people
to look after their elderly family members, natural love between children and
parents
gradually evaporates, becoming a sense of legal obligation.
Thus
, it is more appropriate for governments to propagate the feeling of
responsibility
by means of TV programs or other media sources to preserve a healthy relationship between young and older generations rather than by setting
rules
. In a nutshell, it is true that some moral standards,
such
as the
responsibility
to care for elderly
people
, are fading away from some societies, requiring specific actions to be taken.
Nevertheless
, I believe
such
standards should never reach outside the boundaries of culture and become a legal obligation of a citizen.
Submitted by jaker.raimov on

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Topic Vocabulary:
  • filial piety
  • elder care
  • aging population
  • public resources
  • state welfare
  • financial burden
  • legal mandate
  • family dynamics
  • moral responsibility
  • residency
  • integrity
  • dependency
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