Who to trust in a time of need

Often when we need to grieve, we are advised to indulge others in our thoughts so that they can share our burden. The ever-supportive mothers and fathers are more than happy to be anchors for the weight we bear; a float we can grab onto to hold ourselves aloft. It is when the current pulls us more treacherously than we bargained for that the problem begins. Parents complain and become irritable that we keep heaping our stresses on them, and expect them to absorb these fears and insecurities like a sponge. How insensitive are we not to realise that they too, despite their old age, still have troubles of their own? Arguably, their troubles are far more loaded than ours: young narcissists of the Y generation, still not financially independent, still not rid of the notion of the self. When our parents become weary of our finicky and amateur concerns, we are encouraged to turn to others within our meaningful social networks. More often than not, these ‘others’ are our friends.