My parents may be seen as my life in the past and my...

My parents may be seen as my life in the past and my children my life in the future. Just like it would be ridiculous to say that my hands, in providing food to my stomach, are "paying debts" to the latter because it helped to keep the hands alive, it is misleading to talk about "owing debts" between parents and children. Therefore, the difference between English and a Confucian on filial obligation does not consist in the "owing/non-owing" relation, but…