Age can make even the most flexible person increasingly set in their ways. As we get older (and our laundry list of responsibilities steadily grows), the endless afternoon hours we spent enjoying life as a child are now squeezed into scheduled blocks of adult time – and, of course, there are never enough.
In today’s society, there’s an expectation of speed, productivity, and success. As we age, we tend to internalize and project these expectations, sometimes even lashing out at those (like our children, parents, and spouses) who don’t perform as we see fit – and it’s not surprising given the competitive, fast-paced lifestyle in which we have been raised.
The following animated video tells the tale of an adult son sharing the afternoon with his elderly father. When a crow lands down beside them, however, their pleasant conversation soon takes a different turn, ending in a lesson that neither man would soon forget.
Follow along with the story text below.
The crow’s landing
An 85-year-old man was sitting on the porch of his home with his 45-year-old, highly educated son. While they were enjoying the silence, a crow flew over and perched on the railing.
From time to time, the father’s memory would fail him. While unfortunate, this was understandable, given his old age.
Seeing the crow land before them, the father looked over at his son and asked, “What is this?”
The son replied, “It’s a crow.”
A repeated inquiry
A couple of minutes passed by, and the father asked again, “What is this?”
And the son said, “It’s a crow.”
A few more minutes passed, and the old father asked his son again, “What is this?” The son said, “Father, I already told you that it is a crow.”
A moment of anger
After a while, the father asked his son for the fourth time, “What is this?”
And now, the son was starting to become very annoyed and irritated, he replied, “Father! It’s a crow! It’s a crow!”
Then, for a fifth time, the father asked the son, “What is this?”
At this point, the son’s temper was starting to boil over.
“Father! You keep asking me the same question over and over and I keep repeating the answer. Are you not understanding what I’m saying to you?!”
The father got up from his chair and went inside the house. When he returned, he was holding an old journal. He opened the journal and asked his son to read the entry that his father wrote many decades ago.
The tables turn
What the son read was this: “Today, my son was sitting on the porch with me when a crow flew over and perched on the railing. He asked me twenty-five times what it was, and I told him twenty-five times that it was a crow. I did not feel irritated at all – in fact, I felt love for my innocent and curious child.”
The son closed the journal.
He understood now that when he was little, he asked his father the same question 25 times and his father never grew annoyed with him. While today, his father only asked him five times and he had become extremely irritated. That’s when the son realized his mistake.
He felt ashamed, embarrassed, and apologized to his father.
Remember that parents take care of children in every way when they are younger. When parents reach old age, it’s important to not look at them as a burden. Be kind to them, be patient with them, and be respectful to them.
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