Your family is paramount.
家族は何よりも大切。
“They thought that was an excuse.”
About twenty years ago, my boss told me. I was just hired by a company that gave me an accountant job. When I signed an offer letter, HR manager sitting in front of me asked me if my parents knew about the offer. I briefly mentioned that my parents were sick and in hospital. Then the manager frowned a bit and said, “Did you talk about that during the interview?”
According to my boss — well, ‘ex-boss’ already — management of the company thought of my statement as a sign of weakness. A lack of commitment to my job. Just because I mentioned my sick parents. The company didn’t withdraw a job offer because of that, but this episode gave me a strong doubt about the culture of the company — a lack of humanity. Unfortunately, or fortunately, I proved myself right later, and left the company.
Our family is as important as our life. Our employer will never be more important than our family. Of course we need a job (or our own business) to make a living, but that doesn’t mean we must sacrifice our family to get a salary. Our employer is replaceable. Our family is (basically) not.
We are all mortal beings. Do your best to spend more time with your family. After they are gone — like my parents — we can never catch up on it, although they will keep living in our heart.
Happy Thanksgiving.