The Bird Has Flown Its Nest..

Two weeks ago's rescued baby bird has made it. It has flown the nest....

In today's real world, it's kinda like that too. An empty nest means that the kids have made it... they've made something out of their lives and have flown the nest, leaving the house empty. Kids leave home younger these days too for their studies, so the nest becomes empty even earlier. But an empty nest can also mean the other way also... kids leave home for the wrong reason. Either way, empty nest syndrome is unavoidable! Kinda sad, either way...

For the Chinese, the family unit has always been very important, as can be seen in 2 of the 3 of Confucian essence; filial piety, humaneness and rituals. There are many Chinese rituals from birth to death that enforce the importance of the family. The recently concluded Cheng Beng is one such rituals. All these contribute to the strengthening of the family relationships. Chinese families, being virilocal, were made up of many extended families, with the head being the eldest male. They share a common household budget and share their meals together. That's those days.

It's not like that any more. Today, once children lead lives independent of their families, i.e. once they complete their education and get a job... they seldom come home to roost. Even if they do work in the same town, they'd build their own nest, very much like the little bird who survived the fall and the rain, fly off... only difference is people still do go back to their original nests to visit.

The little bird went back to the nest a couple of times after it learned to fly... but we've not seen it after that. It's probably flying free some where now... Individuality is in, collectivism is not. But it'd be nice to strike a balance somewhere in between....