Sunday, February 11, 2007

There is No Blame


Quote of the day:
“Sometimes you sense how faithfully your life is delivered, even though you can’t remember the address.”
--Thomas R. Smith

Quote of the day no. 2:
“Sometimes I stand in the grocery checkout line and look at all the pretty faces on all the magazines and I think, why don’t we have a magazine titled People Who Matter?
--Carol B. Wilson

More on "'24' is a Brutal Comic":
Number of people U.S. counterterrorism agent Jack Bauer personally killed last season on the TV show 24: 38
--Harper’s Index

Number of incidences of torture on prime-time network TV shows from 2002 to 2005: 624
Number on shows the previous seven years: 110
--Parents Television Council (Los Angeles)



Quote of the day no. 3:
“There is no blame; there is only love.”
--Ann Karasinski, in an excellent "This I Believe" essay on NPR’s "Morning Edition."

Every normal parent on the planet wants to protect their children. Protection is a natural, expected and vital part of parenthood. Parents want to protect their children from whatever might harm them, including questionable friends and tawdry and corrosive influences.

But (and you knew a but was coming) no matter how complete or careful the parental protection, bad things still happen to children. And when these bad things happen, parents often drive themselves crazy trying to figure out what they could have done differently.

It is very hard to accept that, ultimately, we cannot control whether our children have pain or trouble in their lives. We can influence a bit, but we cannot control.

I strongly commend Ana Karasinski’s very poignant NPR essay to you (go to NPR.com). Especially if, in spite of all your efforts, your child has pain in his or her life.

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