Do We Owe Our Parents Everything or Just Gratitude?

I don't believe we owe our parents everything. We don't owe them our lives, our choices, our happiness, our dreams or our paths. Each of us is an individual with our own path. Parents ideally give us wings and not chains. We might feel the need to sacrifice for them, to live for them or the responsibility of taking care of them to the extent of us sacrificing our comfort, our sense of belonging and our sense of pride.

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Also, we just don't owe them only gratitude but also a bit of our care, comfort and stability. It is basically saying we don't owe them our lives, but we owe them a share of the fruits of our lives. This is not to say that gratitude is not necessary, but it is the foundation upon which all other factors are built (care, comfort and stability). It is therefore not a responsibility but an obligation. Parents believe that sacrificing themselves with the benefit that their children, in whatever way, in the future will do more than them and will replenish all their efforts. It is the African mentality that the parents work and provide for the children, and in future times, the children work and provide for the parents.
We basically don't owe our parents our lives because they have created a path for us to live our lives but with their guidance and support. If we live because of our parents, then we haven't lived at all; we have created a mindset that revolves around our parents. Our social life, our happiness and our sense of being will revolve around them. Yes, they really brought us into this world and did everything parents should do, but that does not mean we ought to live our lives for them. No good parent will want that for their children. What I feel is bad is when you forget about your parents, neglect them or block them when they are in dire need of dependability because, obviously, family was created for this.
I will end on this note that we don't owe our parents everything, but we owe them a share of the fruits of our lives because they also, in one way or another, sacrificed a part of themselves just to make sure we are living good lives.
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