To Eric, We have hardly ever disagreed with your comments and appreciate your sincerity and sympathy toward your writers. This is not so much a disagreement as it is an addition to your views regarding the letter from Bad counsel, who requested support from family members and was then reprimanded for disregarding their counsel.
My brother and sister-in-law also needed what they called advise, but it was really a handout on multiple occasions.
After they made better choices, such as trading in their brand-new Porsche for something more affordable, removing their adult children from their cell plans, canceling a refundable vacation and using the money to pay off high credit card debt, cutting back on Starbucks twice a day, and dining out four times a week, they became irate when we told them we would help them.
They believed we were out of line and were as surprised as your writer. I then forwarded a Dave Ramsey book on debt relief to them. Best tip ever. Eight years later, they are content and debt-free!
Giver of Advice
To the Person Who Offers Advice: I adore how you gave them Dave Ramsey’s book on financial advice, enabling them to make life improvements. Sometimes it’s simpler to heed the advise of an impartial, outside voice, particularly when it comes to people we are close to. Additionally, it prevents anger and empathy fatigue.
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To Eric, Your response to No Check-in regarding their adult children not phoning them until the day following Hurricane Helene’s impact on Georgia caught my attention. We have been taught that it is preferable to avoid using the phone during a large crisis because we reside in California, a place that is prone to natural disasters. Since so many people use smartphones these days, we should save that bandwidth for people who truly need aid calling for assistance in the event of a crisis that could destroy cell towers. Your children may have been doing the right thing by waiting a day, even though it might be wonderful to hear from them sooner.
Everything is OK.
To All Clear, please: That’s a really wise observation. It also makes me realize how crucial it is to create and update emergency plans for the family. We can reduce anxiety on all sides if we let our loved ones know ahead of time what we’ll do in an emergency and how we plan to check in.
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