The Farm Inheritence

There was a family of farmers who were emotionally cold and distant.  They were proud, but stern and strict with their children.  The parents demanded fealty from their children and were harsh with discipline for the slightest deviation from what they wanted for their children.  They offered rewards for good behavior, but that was the extent of the warmth and love they felt.

The family was financially very successful because they were shrewd in business dealings and ruthless with anyone who crossed their path.  Being so powerful, they had many allies.  Being so feared, they had many enemies.

One day, the youngest child of the farmers ran away from home at the age of fifteen.  He was miserable from living with the lack of unconditional love, from the harsh punishments, and from having to constantly try, but never succeed, to appease his parents to earn their love.  He left the security of their harsh home for a scary world where his future was uncertain.

He did not fair well, but he managed the best he could, better than most under those circumstances.

He established a career and married and had children.  He and his family moved to the suburbs and enjoyed a peaceful, quiet life to themselves.  The grown boy and his wife sometimes ventured into the city to enjoy a little nightlife, and no one was harmed.

But the family was outraged that one of their own would leave them, for they were a jealous, possessive bunch.  And soon it was time for them to retire, and the grown boy was the named inheritor of the farm.  So they sent a messenger to inform him to come home.

The grown boy refused.  He enjoyed the life he built much more than running his family's farm, and especially under their strict guidance.

They would not take no for an answer.  So, unbeknownst to him, the family devised a plan to ruin the grown boy's life, leaving him no other option but to come home.  They framed him for a crime he did not commit.  They had their friends at his company sabotage his career.  They had their friends in the community ruin his reputation.  They spied on him and they haunted him and wrecked his mental health.

When he had lost almost everything, they said to him, "Look at what your life of sin has brought upon you.  We are so sorry, but we will still welcome you back with open arms".

The grown boy looked at them and said, "Welcome me back?  You did this to me.  Why would I want to come back to you?  If I ever had any inclination before, I most certainly do not anymore."

Those who have ears to hear, let them hear.