Whose Life It Is? 誰の人生ですか

Japanese follows English. 英語の後に日本語が続きます。

I happened to find an article about the parents of a Japanese man in his 40s. He's not married, living separately from his parents and working successfully in the financial industry.

One day he was told to come to his parent's house and asked if he had intention of marrying, to which he said that he didn't know. After hearing the answer, his father told him as follows: Although expecting him to marry someone some day, they now realized that he might be single for the rest of his life and it meant to them that they had nobody who would take care of them. So, they decided to buy a unit of a care facility providing care services. But it's expensive, leaving almost no money to him. They want him to understand that he will inherit almost nothing. (Needless to say that the parent's idea that "if their son doesn't marry, nobody will take care of them" is wrong. Not their daughter in law but their son has obligation to take of them.)

I want my parents to read this story because I believe that if you want to live a decent life, you have to make preparations, which is exactly what my parents used to say to me. Now I've been telling them to think about their future and how and where they want to live, but they've been ignoring me, saying that thinking about death disgusts them. I always wonder whose life they have been living and will live.

面白い記事を見つけた。40代独身男性がある日両親に呼ばれて行ってみたら、結婚する気があるかどうか聞かれ、分からないと答えたら、「結婚しないということは介護してくれる人がいないということだから、介護施設に入ることにした。ついては介護施設に入るのにお金がかかるので遺産はないと思ってくれ」と言われたとのこと。ここまでちゃんと考えているのは立派だと思う。(勿論、彼らの面倒を見る義務があるのは彼の嫁ではなく、彼自身だが。)

うちの親にも、どういう風にどこで暮らしたいのか教えてほしいと言っているのだが、今後のことを考えるだけでぞっとするとのことで、私のことを無視し続けています。誰の人生なのか、時々、こちらがぞっとします。

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