Babies are beautiful creatures. But one thing that makes them so dear in the society is their total helplessness. A baby left on it's own would likely die. A baby is dependent on adults for everything. From feeding to clothing, warmth, shelter, comfort, etc. And guess what, the adult never sees it as a burden that he doesn't want to carry. In fact, most mothers would quit their jobs in order to take care of their babies.
But as the baby grows, responsibility is expected of the baby. At a certain age, the baby is expected to sit without help, eat without help, walk around without someone holding him. At a point, the baby is expected to dress himself, bathe himself, and soon enough start helping to take care of younger ones.
Imagine the disappointment and sheer pain that a mother feels when her baby doesn't do what is expected. Instead of walking, he keeps crawling. He keeps depending on the adults to help him eat, bathe, and do the necessary activities of daily living, even though he is old enough to be self reliant in those areas.
It is the same with life, everything in life has a time frame. There is the time where you are completely dependent on others. Asking for directions, having other people do things for you. But there is a time when you are expected to do the same things that was for you for others who were like you once were.
When I began my internship some years ago, one of the first questions my senior colleagues asked was...
when did you start housejob?
When I told them that I started last week, they were so lenient and were extra willing to help me get things done, showing me the ropes. In most cases I was completely dependent on the older interns to get things done. But as I spent more time, people became rash to me, expecting me to have caught up...and they were right..
I was meant to transition from being dependent to being independent and I did. By the time I was completing my internship, I was totally independent in my job as an intern. That process of transitioning from dependence to independence is called growth.
The strongest people I know, and when I say strong, I am referring to emotionally stability and intelligence were not always like that. They were at some point dependent on others for emotional support and needed a lot of help just to go through life.
Life is filled with people in various stages of dependence. Each of us have our own battles with dependence in various areas of life... no I am not talking about drugs man! And there are times where it is acceptable, like it is for a baby to be completely dependent on it's parents or guardians for everything.
But there are times where it becomes totally unacceptable. Times where someone who should be independent or a source of dependence becomes a dependent because he or she is afraid of responsibility or lacks the courage to face his fears.. that is unacceptable. We must learn to know where the line is drawn.
That's it
cheerio!
