Taiwan Church News 3295 Edition April 20 - 26, 2015 Editorial Editorial: Foolish Children Are A Greif To Their Father, But A Wise Child Makes A Glad Father In April, a series of military scandals stunned Taiwan society. A deputycaptain and chief security information officer, Lieutenant Colonel Lau Nai-cheng, offering a military basement tour to his friends, relatives and showbitz personalities, allowing them entered and photographed in the cockpit of the highly classified Apache assault helicopter, resulting these show-off pictures posted on facebook website making further a big furor across Taiwan island. After days of flooding critiques and reprimands from media, congress or eventhe military, Colonel Lau's old father, a retired Major General of Army, cannot help but give a press conference to deliver his sincere apology in tears to Taiwan society and this country. When the image of a weeping old-aged father, being ashamedly sorry for his son's foolish mistakes, shown up on TV as a national focus, it made everybody sympathetic and heartily felt sorrow for him! And this event reminds Taiwan Christians about the wisdom from the Proverb 17:25 -"Foolish children are a grief to their father / and bitterness to her who bore them", especially when the social attentions of this Apache event discussed by the media and social forums are focusing on laws, military regulation, top secrets, privileges, show-off and rich ladies phenomenon. Though there is only 1,800 words in the Classic of Filial Piety(Hsiao Ching),a Confucius classics arguing about a core concept of filial piety, every word of it is like a gem. In the first chapter of Hsiao Ching, when explaining about the beginning and the end of of filial piety, it said "Hsiao is the foundation of virtue, and is what all teaching grows out of. The body, hair and skin, all have been received from the parents, and so one doesn't dare damage them—that is the beginning of hsiao. Establishing oneself, practicing The Way, spreading the fame of one’s name to posterity, so that one’s parents become renowned—that is the end of hsiao". In other words, the beginning of Filial Piety is to "protect one's body well", and the end is establishing oneself, practicing The Way, spreading the fame of one's name to posterity, so that one's parents become renowned. If one's parent can be well fed, clothed and offered a living free of worry, these material offerings can only be deemed as a minimum demand. To achieve the ideal filial piety, one should behave well and has good reputation to make one's parent renown without shame. In contrast, if the children do not abide by the laws, making their parents bitter, grieving and ashamed, then certainly they will be the foolish children or even the terminator of the family relationship. As the scripture said in Proverb 23: 24 - 25, "The father of the righteouswill greatly rejoice; he who begets a wise son will be glad in him. / Let your father and mother be glad; let her who bore you rejoice", if we can establish ourselves, practice The Way, caring the lives of others and doing good to our society, then this is the filial piety to our parents and their fame will become renown! |