Buttered Bread

Buttered Bread

I used to hear an old saying, uttered often by the old-timers when they observed someone being ungrateful, unappreciative to someone that was more or less taking care of them. They would say “ well it’s pretty obvious he/she doesn’t know which side his/her bread is buttered on.”
I know which side my bread is buttered on, do you?
It’s sad that so many crave that butter, but very few appreciate it. Those that live at home enjoy the benefits of a free home and all its amenities. Free clothing, money to spend on your extracurricular activities. You can practically do as you please. All that is asked or expected of you is to show some gratitude and respect to the one supplying that butter you so eagerly indulge in. But that rarely happens to anyone that butters someone else’s bread besides your own. For some reason the more you do for some people the more they seem to expect.
Some are so entitled that they take whatever they want of yours and if you say anything they proceed to explain to you how selfish and arrogant you are. If you have they should have also. You can work 12 hours a day 7 days a week while they sit at home playing on their phone, yet they insist they are entitled to whatever you have. You can be in a relationship and your partner can give you money and they even feel they are entitled to that also.
You are not supposed to owe your parents for raising you. If you are in a position where you can help them in any way that is simply you showing love and respect for them, not paying a debt. If children owe their parents a debt then all the children should owe an equal amount, not just the children that are doing better.
If a parent is helping a child, grandchild, or any family member after they become adults, that person should be thankful and pay back any debt owed. Family should always be willing to help other family members if, at all possible, this is what makes families closer and stronger as a family. As soon as someone starts taking advantage of the generosity and never repaying what they take, they will find themselves being shunned and avoided by the rest of the family. Just like in life outside of family, “You get what you give.”
A person no matter how good of a heart, how easy-going and lovable they are, can only take so much abuse and disrespect. Soon they will grow tired of how you treat them and will no longer give to you or do for you. Perhaps then you will realize which side your bread is buttered on also.

Simply my Thoughts
Dean Butler