New '24 filial exemplars'

百善孝为先. 近日,全国妇联老龄办发布了新版"二十四孝"标准："经常带着爱人、子女回家；节假日尽量与父母共度；每周给父母打个电话；父母的零花钱不能少；陪父母看一场老电影……"与儒家倡导的"二十四孝"相比,新版有了许多创新,简单易懂,但同时也对子女提出了更高要求.当然这个标准没有强制性,只是作为引导子女孝敬父母的一个行动参考.

Filial piety is the most important of all virtues. Recently, the Office on Ageing of the All-China Women's Federation issued a new version of the"24 filial exemplars" including, "constantly going home with your spouse and children; spending more time with your parents on holidays; calling your parents every week; giving more pocket money to your parents; accompanying your parents to watch an old movie..."In comparison with the original "24 filial exemplars" advocated by confucianists, the new version is more innovative and simpler to understand. Meanwhile it specifies more requirements of sons and daughters. Naturally, these are not compulsory rules but rather a guide helping children to show filial piety to their parents.

在现代社会,尤其生活在大城市,人们的工作压力越来越大,住得也与父母越来越远,要忙碌的事情很多,等等这些都成为子女与父母沟通的障碍.在这种情形下,社会上甚至出现了为子女设置"回家奖"这样的现象.这让我们意识到,我们很需要有一个像新版"二十四24孝"这样的行动标准做参考,同时反思自己, "我们真有那么忙吗？我们有多长时间没有给父母打电话了……"当然,我们没有必要完全按照新版"二十四孝"的内容行事,毕竟每个人的具体情况不一样.因此结合自己的实际情况,比如多陪父母说说话,聊聊天,做一些这样力所能及的事,就是在关心、孝顺父母.这样新版"二十四孝"就不至成为一个束缚子女的道德枷锁,加重子女内心的压力.

In modern society, children face obstacles in communicating with their parents, especially when living in big cities. Most people have greater pressure at work, live further from their parents and have more things on their plate than before. Under these circumstances, there is even a phenomenon where parents bribe their children into returning home. It is clear that we do need a plan of action like the new version of the "24 filial exemplars" as a reference. We need a profound rethink of our priorities: "Are we really that busy? How long has it been since we last called our parents?"Of course, it's not necessary to completely follow the new version of "24 filial exemplars". After all, each of us is different, living our individual lives. To take care of and show filial obedience to our parents in combination with our personal real situations is possible. We can spend more time accompanying our parents, chatting with them, and whatever else we can do. Therefore, the new version of "24 filial exemplars" will not be moral chains to restrain offspring and increase their inner pressure.

(Source: myechinese.com)