The TODAY newspaper reports an interesting survey. Singaporean children rank their parents poorly, in comparison to children in most other Asian countries. Thai and Indonesian parents come on tops.
How can Mr Wang help Singaporean parents? By reminding them that parenthood is a sacred duty. I share these words of wisdom from Iranian poet Kahlil Gibran:
"Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you, And though they are with you, yet they belong not to you.
You may give them your love but not your thoughts. For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls, For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you. For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far. Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness; For even as he loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable."
3 comments:
I thought that PAP government said that children (and children-in-law) were our insurance policy for old age medical costs and our retirement plan against rising cost of living?
Kahlil Gibran is Iranian - a poverty stricken country. What does he know about a wealthy nation-state that our PAP leaders have brought to prosperity in the short span of 40 years?
Gibran is dead. The words are of the Prophet.
"According to the 402 teens surveyed here, less than half their parents are able to talk things through without losing their temper...They also have a tendency to preach and lecture"...
This is the "keep quiet and don't complain! Stop whining!" style of talking to kids: a real conversation stopper.
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