The Ever-changing Painting
Once they were coolest, they were invincible, they were powerful
The First Painted Image
When we were young, we had no one but our parents. They’d be the first people we would run to, the first people we would call if we’re hurt, and the first people we’d tell our achievements to.
So naturally, being the naive, fragile little humans we are then, we would paint them to be like superheroes: cool, badass, invincible, powerful, all-knowing, you name it. They seem to have everything.
Like a helpless civilian looking up to their savior, our relationship to our parents in our early ages would constitute an never-dwindling trust to what they would say, an unchangeable bias towards how cool they are,
We start to see their flaws, they aren’t as perfect as we painted them to be.
As we grow older and we start to see the reality of the world, we slowly realize that superheroes have their own weaknesses too. By the time we enter our teenage years, we see our “super-parents” make mistakes, and exhibit imperfection. We slowly revise how we see them.
We start to see ourselves as individuals capable of our own heroic feats. Step-by-step, we build the hero in ourselves too, with the basis being our parents. In this age, they start to see us with more difficulty, as the helpless child they once had, now has slowly built upon himself or herself their own protective arsenal.
Although they would still be there to help out of problems out of our leagues every now and then, the dependence would start to dwindle, and before they know it, we are on the final stage of painting our picture of them.
The Final Picture
But then we realize that before they were our parents, they were the same as us too. Humans with their own flaws and weaknesses.
But then we realize that before they were our parents, they were the same as us too. Humans with their own flaws and weaknesses.
As we reach the age of adolescence, we realize that they were once like us too. Human and fragile, with their own sets of weaknesses and demons. We come to understand that they were the superheroes we need when we were helpless whelps of the world, and by the time we reach this age, they are already past their prime. Hence, we have to take care and be the hero they need.
Like how heroes have an understanding with one another, our parents see us with this kind of perspective. We do the things they can’t do, and they do the things we can’t do.
We acknowledge their weaknesses and they acknowledge ours, and together help overcome them.
And here we finish our painting.
My Painted Picture
In my life currently, I see myself as someone who is highly capable of being a hero not just for myself or my friends, but to all sorts of people who are in need. I see myself as someone who needs help from time to time, but wants to give help more than I actually receive it. I see my parents as still the heroes they still are. Although now I am fully capable of their weaknesses, lapses, misjudgements, and lack of knowledge (in some aspects), I still trust them to pull me out of situations I can’t handle. I still count on them to be walls I could hide behind if I’m feeling threatened. I still look up to them and idolize their achievements.
As for them, they see me now as a child who needs constant guidance, and not saving. They understand that I am very much capable of saving my own skin already. But they know that I still have much to learn. Now, rather than a citizen that needs saving, they see me as an apprentice that needs mentoring.
The way I see my parents and the way they see me are quite complimenting. They know what areas of my life they need to tap, they know what areas in their life they could depend on me for tapping. They know what holes of mine they can and can’t fill, and they recognize the holes of theirs I can fill. I see them the way they see me: as someone who they could always rely on to take care of each other as this world evolves.