Am I Selfish ?

Had a discussion with my colleagues and manager over lunch today. Talked about morals and eventually talked about children.

One view parent's imposing their "ambitions" onto children as being alright ? Example used was Child tells Mother he wants to be a lawyer. Child's elder sister is already a lawyer. Mother says "I don't need 2 lawyers. I am not a criminal. But I would like to hae a doctor in the family. But it is alright. If you want really want to be a lawyer, mummy will support your decision"

Wow. In my mind I was thinking :

(1) Is it right to impose what you want, or what you hope to be onto your child ?

(2) Career is child's life. He may do it to please you when you are alive. To show filial piety. After you pass on, what is he going to do ? Suffer the rest of HIS life ? And hoping he will impose on HIS children to what he was able to ?

(3) I am selfish. I do what I like to do. I do not care about my parents. They are not going to feed me for life. I am.

(4) So who is more selfish. Me, or the parents who want their children to be what they (the parents) did not achieve ? I make my parents "suffer" for the 2nd half of their life ? Or the parents who make their children "suffer" for the rest of the children's lives ?

I do not know - Which is right, and which is wrong. Doing something for 10 minutes to please your parents is one thing. Doing it for the rest of your life is another.

Yes, I am selfish. That is also why I do not plan to have any children, so that I will not be forced to make these kinds of decisions.