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It would seem that this duty to die thing is really a westernized concept. We see very typically that parents raise children, children grow up and the parents become old, and because the children want to do their own things and feel the obligation to take care of their parents, so they just dump them in an old folks home. Only those parents who are incredibally rich or planned ahead by A LOT have enough money to be out of their children's way and lead their own lives.
While in other cultures, asia for an example, the elderly are extremely respected and often considered to be wise rather than incapable or senile. That would be the major difference between the two cultures where one finds elderly as feeble and weak, while the other respect elders as star wars fans to yoda...
Both cultures are spending effort to sustain the elderly, however the asian cultures don't mind so it's not a problem to them.
So a change of attitude may help this problem, another is to look at it this way...
children are seen at potential contributors to society but they must be educated or else they'll end up being delinquents and parents are thsoe who do that. So while the children are helpless it's the parents who take care of them and by the time hte parents are helpless the children should take care of the parents. see, even trade.
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-poor is the man whose pleasure depends on the permission of another-
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