Sol Barrera Watters - Web Developer, Language Expert, Artist and more...

In Panama, we teach something called Cívica which basically means teaching values, rules and norms to facilitate living in your society.  Most of us learned to “respect our elders” especially if we were raised by our grandmothers (which is more often than not the case).  We know we have to open doors for them, give them a seat if there is none available and let them go first in the lines at the bank or the grocery store.

But what happens when our parents or grandparents turn 60, 70 or even 80?  What happens when they get sick or fall down and have to recuperate?  From what I’ve seen, those events cause clear turmoil in every family.  Issues of money and hiring nurses or maids arise, fights break out if brothers and sisters do not agree on what to do or how to care for their parents but more importantly, once the crisis has been taken care of, everyone goes back to their jobs and their families (meaning, wives, husbands and children).