HOW can people be so cruel to their parents?
They have raised you, fed you, clothed you and loved you and in return all most want is a little companionship in their old age and yet instead their own children can rip them off, abuse them and spit them out like they are all chewed up and spent.
Well, it seems that way.
Masterton woman Fiona Wilton aka Teal did just that. She gained control of her dad's finances, put him in a home and left the staff to care for him while she whittled away his life savings.
Money set aside while he worked hard to ensure in his retirement he was going to be taken care of apparently fed into a pokie machine.
He's not the only aged victim being ripped off or abused by their adult children.
Age Concern says some of the elderly in our community are being taken advantage of by those who should be looking after them.
How could they?
Growing old is something we all aim to reach in this life. It means we have survived good and bad and deserve rest not pain or concern.
After years of working and caring for family it's time to think about you, not worry about what tomorrow holds.
Growing up we only had one grandparent; one died at war, two long before my birth.
Nana lavished all of us with the love only a grandparent could possess.
All her 16 children respected her and cared for her in her old age; watering her lips in those last days before she finally gave up life.
Not one of her children, dozens of grandchildren and great-grandchild would have harmed her. She was reliant on us in her retirement years and deserved to be cared for with respect.
We need to care what happens to our older people. They carry all our history and how well they are cared for determines what a community is really about.
It warmed my heart to hear a work colleague say she was going to take fresh baking up to the rest home for Wilton's dad. He deserves much more.
Let's show our old people respect and care for them.
Some don't have someone to care, some just aren't cared about.