James’ father became ill 10 years ago. He was 75 years old. Because of his wife’s death a year before, he was so depressed and living alone from that time. One January, James visited his dad. He knocked the door, nobody answered. Then, he had to use his own key to open it. When James came into the house, he was shocked as his father lay in the lounge floor. He phoned an ambulance in a panic. About 20 minutes later, James’ father was taken to the hospital. Although he had a stroke which wasn’t a serious problem, he had to stay there over a month to recover. During that month, James called his sister, Kate, to decide who should look after their dad. James couldn’t do that because he was out at work all day, while his dad needed taking care constantly. It seemed that Kate was an only choice because she didn’t work and had a big house. Their father totally could have his own room. Kate didn’t want to take this responsibility, so their father went into a nursing home. James visited his dad every weekend as he had to work during the week, but Kate visited once because her house was too far from the nursing home, about 3 hours by car. Their father died of a heart attack 6 months later. Even though Kate was at the funeral, James was very sad, disappointed and he would never forgive her.

When Kate knew that her father was ill, she went to the hospital immediately. Soon after Kate got there, she fell out with her brother, James, because he wanted her to look after their dad. Kate thought that her father needed a professional help. Unless she was a doctor, she couldn’t do anything. James kept saying that she had space and it was suitable for their father to come to her house. In her opinion, she thought that her dad couldn’t get upstairs. Therefore, if he stayed here, she would have to change the house for him. Then, there were taking him to the toilet, bathing him… It wasn’t ok for Kate to do that. She felt unfair as she had to do all the work and change her life, while James’ life was the same. Besides, James had lots of money. He could hire a care work to look after their father during the day. Then James could take care of dad when he got home.

In my opinion, both James and Kate had fault. They are mature son and daughter, but don’t take responibitities with their father as a dutiful children. Don’t want to take care of father when he was ill, they excuse by busy work, facilities in house, even life’s changing. They compare, jealous each other, lead to repudiation their duties with dad. With a father who is very important for bringing up them grow up both physic and spirit, their treatment aren’t acceptable. After the death of old and diseased father, they don’t realize their mistakes, in contrast, they start blaming for each other. Those behaviors need repairing and avoiding in every child.