Hopes for my Children
When I started this blog, I had no idea where it would go. I didn’t tell anyone about it at first. Then Ruthie found me, and was my first commenter. Then (very) slowly others.
I read Ruthie’s blog regularly. She and I are very different. We agree little on social and political issues, but her writing is thought-provoking. It has helped me to clarify where I stand.
Ruthie blogged recently on homosexuality. Again, our views don’t agree. But, again, the post got me thinking.
I could go on and on about the homosexuality issue in particular, shove in a little religion, etc., but that is not what this post is about.
After C was sick, I examined my hopes for my children, for their futures. His illness made me realize a few things, and her post had me thinking about those things late last night.
- I want my children to be happy. I don’t care if they become lawyers or plumbers or computer programmers or firefighters or writers or hair stylists or whatever. I want them to be happy people and find joy and satisfaction in their chosen paths.
- I want my children to love and to be able to accept love. I want them to develop healthy relationships and care and talk and find and give comfort. Gender is not an issue here. Love is.
- I want my children to be able to function successfully day-to-day. I want them to understand the importance of looking someone in the eye and interacting and picking up their own socks off the bedroom floor.
- I want my children to be able to see how they fit into the greater world and how they can affect change in that greater world. I want them to be kind to the world.
- I want my children to have and to give, in all their glory and all their faults, that thing that eludes so many of us: acceptance.
What a monumental job I have before me.
1 comment:
Having a mother who wants these things for her children puts your kids ahead of 90% of the children who live on this planet. It is a huge job, but I'm sure you can do it. They're very lucky.
I actually found your blog randomly, by clicking on the "next blog" button. You had written something about your father, and when I read it I immediately thought of my grandfather, who had just died. So I bookmarked your site and kept coming back.
Someone on NPR said today that you can never see the entirety of something when you look at it from only one side. So it's great that we have the ability to see the world through each other's eyes, via the blogosphere. I think it makes us all more complete. Even when we disagree.
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