Not even a day before this unit, My father had very bad arthritis in his hands. It was very painful watching him in pain as his hands were spasming and in pain. It is a very direct reminder that my old man is actually getting older. He works at Food Depot in Baltimore, and he has worked there for 5 years. Over time, he has accumulated lesions on his skin (I think its called “psoriasis”) that were caused by him grinding his life away in a freezer. Also, one night he cut his finger very badly and went to the hospital, but still pulled through and bought me a game for Christmas. Despite his faults, he has always pulled through for my sister and I, and worked hard so that I wont have to work as hard. While he worked in a freezer all day, Ill be freezing in an office writing code on a computer. He always told me to be better than him, but I am deathly afraid that he wont be around to see that. Its very interesting to talk about what we do to have just a simple, dignified life. Parents have to destroy themselves just to provide the bare minimum for their kids.
Unruly Bodies 
This is very sad to hear where parents work so hard to the point where they put too much stress on them that can turn into physical pain. This allows us to work harder than them so we can provide for them and retire them.
I actually mentioned this idea in another comment. Eventually we feel bad for “letting” out parents destroy themselves for us. My father once told me to be better than he is.
Hello!
This post made me very emotional, as I can relate to it. I have 3 siblings (so there are 4 of us total), and my dad is a stay at home dad. While it may seem like an easy job, he is always doing so much for us and doing so much around the house, running so many errands, and making sure to do it all on time and in order. He is usually all by himself when doing difficult tasks too. He had to quit his well-paying job, which he moved to the United States for, to take care of us full time. He had to make so many sacrifices, and continues to make sacrifices, quite literally so that me and my sisters’ hands can look like the photo in your blog post. My dad isn’t able to take care of us like he used to, since he is getting older, and that scares me honestly. I want him to be around too, to see that his hard worked payed off, and to see that I am everything he wanted me to become, so I definitely understand how you feel. Thank you for sharing this post!
When we are younger, we don’t really understand the crap out parents go through. Ver often, eventually, we feel bad for our “selfishness” and start to feel horrible about our ignorance of their toil. I believe that all your father wants from you is to succeed and be better than him
Hi,
Thank you so much for sharing your story, it resonated with me. I share a similar story. I grew up with a single mother and it was difficult seeing her balance 3 jobs (she would carpool my friends and me in the mornings and then go to her day job, where she was an accountant, and at nights she worked at a salon). It was hard, but she did what she thought she had to do to make sure I didn’t have a single worry. She never let me feel hungry or tired, even though in retrospect, I know she was in pain. The older we get the more we start to appreciate and respect our loved ones – for all the sacrifices they made. But I know it’s starting to affect her as she is getting older, and now it’s my turn to reciprocate that love. We all need to get our hands a little dirty.
Thank you for sharing your story as well. I’m glad I am not alone. Its very common in the US to have one or both parents juggling thier families and their jobs. I wish it wasn’t so.