When I decided to go my own way after college my father sent me a letter and a poem. And though it was hard for him to let go, the poems says it all. Someday, I hope I will be as smart as he is when it comes to my son and have the ability, the guts and the love to let him be whatever he wants to be, as my father has done to me. On Children 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. ...
Minds are like parachutes - they only function when they are open. -Paulo Coelho