I often wonder about people who blindly follow their parent’s advice and traditions. I hope they’re not selling themselves short on reaching their potential. What may be fine for our predecessors may not be worthy of us. Is our job to find meaning in our lives and develop our own voice? Are we put here to discover our destiny and our set of truths? Or should we blindly follow what has been handed down to us as gospel without testing it out?
Don’t get me wrong. There is comfort and safety in listening to our elders, and respecting the wisdom of our forefathers has some benefit, but I wonder if it leads to a dead-end?
Click on The Farmer’s Son to read the poem.
Feature image by Bryan Papazov on Unsplash.
Crow On The Wire 
I totally agree with you. 100%
👍👍
I didn’t wait. I left home in my last year of High School. Found a boarding school interstate, that offered me a scholarship, and fled for my sanity. Foolishly, I went back home for two years at the end of my undergraduate degree, thinking that if I reinserted myself into the family dynamics I might be able to, among other things, convince them to stop wantonly exposing themselves to farm chemicals and stuff like that. Needless to say I failed, and now, my eldest brother is now dying of numerous pathologies all related to farm chemicals. OH! But they’re good Christians, so it must be God’s will.
I’m glad you had the good sense to flee in high school, Paul. Sorry about your brother, though.
Enjoyed your sarcasm at the end!!Best, Mark.
I left home and never went back. The young man in your poem however is still reacting to his Father by doing all the things his Father would never have allowed. He needs to find his own path .
So true, Anne. He’s been under his father’s wing for so long, he doesn’t know how to find his own path. Hopefully, he will one day. 🙂
Reblogged this on The Reluctant Poet.
🙏🏻🙏🏻🐪
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