Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Generations


My parents are in town this week, which is always....just....HEAVEN. I recently heard about a study on loneliness, performed by some researchers at Harvard, in which different groups of people were asked to fill in this sentence. "I love my mother, but....."

And overwhelmingly, Americans said "...she drives me crazy." Or something along those lines. But more than 90% of Asians--just about ALL of them--said, ".... I could never repay her for all she's done for me."

Isn't that interesting?

I would complete the sentence this way, "I love my mother (parents), but wish we lived closer."

8 comments:

Swistle said...

I'll bet at least part of it is the way in our culture so many people think they have to declare love for something before they can criticize it ("I love her to death BUT..." followed by the complaint), so the sentence structure is familiar from that context and causes the mind to think of a criticism/complaint.

Katie said...

Swistle, I was thinking that when we hear "....but...." we think of something opposite. I still don't know if Americans would think about never being able to repay our parents.

Grammy Bonnie said...

And Grandpa Jack is an excellent role model in the dental care department!

Angie said...

I do think it would be different if it was "I love mom, and..."

I'm glad that you have your parents there to visit. Have fun.

Bevo said...

Heaven!

Jen said...

That's so sweet. And it's great you feel that way about her! Also, I agree with Angie...

Unknown said...

I couldn't live with my parents. But, I do wish they lived closer. They've always been there. And, I feel like I owe my parents a ton. Not once in my life have I ever felt or thought my parents didn't love me. They have bent over backwards. My parents coming to Alaska, in November, to a place even colder than Vermont (my father hates Vermont winters) to wait around for me to give birth while Matt was deployed - they rocked. I know not all parents do that and spouses have to lean on their military family. Anyway, just one of the many things my parents have done for me.

Andrea_Ben said...

I love that they get to visit and you get to visit them so often.