The Non-Prodigal Son

We talk so much about the prodigal son, we forget about, erh, the other one whom I shall call the non-prodigal son.


I really don't get why the prodigal son is the hero of the story. (Don't tell me the Father in the story is the hero, when the story is title "THE Prodigal Son". If the Father is really the hero, the story will be called "The FATHER of the Prodigal Son" won't it?) 


Anyway, I was saying, the Prodigal Son is the one who's selfish and mercenary and who gets to enjoy the good life. I'm sorry if he had found himself a good investment banker for his millions instead of being so stupid about his money, he wouldn't have gone home to daddy but continued to live it up! 


So is the real moral of the story, take the money and remember to get a good investment banker? Because it seems that the prodigal son is the only gainer in the whole story, the rest are losers.


I know the Father in the story has been approved as THE type of father to be - forgiving, not giving up, willing to welcome back a disgraced son etc etc. But sometimes I wonder why his focus is on the "lost" son and not appreciating and treasuring what he has at home already. But pining for his lost son, is he losing the son that is not lost? What is propinquity without appreciation? Does absence make the heart grow fonder, and presence contempt? Why is he son at home penalised for staying at home while the son that leaves and comes back disgraced, rewarded?


For once, think about the non-prodigal son. His brother leaves and as the only other son he puts aside his dreams of travelling the world for stay at home and help his father. Yes, everything the father has belongs to him; he has no reason to be jealous. But he's working hard to save his father from the hard work and the grief of losing a son, and before he knows it, he's lost himself, sacrificed his dreams, his personality, his time, his future for the sake of the father.


At that time of course, he's just doing what he thinks and knows he should do, without considerations of remuneration and rewards, without begrudging the sacrifice. But compared to the reception and honour given to the lost brother, it suddenly occurs to him what is the freaking point? He might as well give in to all those irresponsible urges he's always wanting to pursue. After all, what's in it for him to stay at home and do all the work? A promise of a something something that is really not quite worth it? What's the use of having the father's house without a father in it?


If you ask me, the story of the Prodigal son is more than about the prodigal son, it's about how the 3 people in the story need to relate with and to each and one another and together. It's about each person and both persons and every person in that picture. You don't merely relate to one person; in your relating to that one, you're relating to everybody else as well. And by relating to everybody else, it makes for easier relating with that one.


Damn relationships are complex.