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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 those souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
which you can not visit, 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
.
Let your bending in the archer's hand
be for gladness.
-- Kahlil Gibran
Heading to a university tomorrow. I'll be meeting college and high school students.
coeur_de_lion
(3,666 posts)Be sure to report back. Those kids have a lot to learn from you and I bet they are eager to get started.
H2O Man
(73,333 posts)what they think, and plan to do this year, and for 2020. Some of my experience may be of interest to them. And perhaps a couple of my ideas. For example, on issues such as gun control, a lot can be done on the state level, as well as the federal level. And I will borrow from Malcolm X, to encourage them to think for themselves, and identify their own unique programs.
coeur_de_lion
(3,666 posts)Lucky kids. You tell 'em I said the fight is theirs now.
H2O Man
(73,333 posts)And I'll tell them a lot of us will stand with them, and proudly so.
coeur_de_lion
(3,666 posts)H2O Man
(73,333 posts)and getting ready to head out soon.
coeur_de_lion
(3,666 posts)H2O Man
(73,333 posts)for I am the oddest of all.
handmade34
(22,755 posts)Gibran, and this particular passage was the basis for how I've lived my live and raised my kids...
H2O Man
(73,333 posts)I first read it decades ago, while in 10th grade, in A.S. Neill's classic "Summerhill." Are you familiar with that book? It also had a great introduction by Erich Fromm.
I tried very hard to use this in raising my kids. They have all come out better people than I. And their friends, too.
kentuck
(110,950 posts)Thanks!
It's one of my favorites.
I liked the demonstration by students in front of the White House today.
prairierose
(2,145 posts)That's always been one of my favorite poems by Gibran.
H2O Man
(73,333 posts)And I think these wonderful young people are a force the NRA and their puppets in DC is growing concerned about. It's been reported that Trump might meet and "listen" to some of them. That involves some risk for him: he won't like to hear what many of them are saying. At least one person inside the White House is "concerned" that Trump might insult one or more of them in a tweet.
ms liberty
(8,479 posts)H2O Man
(73,333 posts)appalachiablue
(41,055 posts)K & R
H2O Man
(73,333 posts)Thank you.
RandomAccess
(5,210 posts)of a student-led movement that will rival if not excel what we witnessed in the anti-war movement of the 60s and 70s. And they too will change the world.
H2O Man
(73,333 posts)coeur_de_lion
(3,666 posts)and that was a beautiful poem from Kahlil Gibran.
I love the way you think.
.
RandomAccess
(5,210 posts)Here's something else I'll bet you'll agree with: We had THE BEST music. If our generation had done nothing else but have that great music, we'd still have changed the world.
H2O Man
(73,333 posts)I was talking about that with my cousin today, when I visited him. I told him that I had posted some of the lyrics from Steppenwolf's "Monster" here on DU.
On a related subject, my older daughter called me last night. She was happy to report that she's learned several of George Harrison's songs. She's performed Lennon's "Imagine" at a rally before. She works in a law office in Boston, and is a fine example of a young political activist.
RandomAccess
(5,210 posts)so much of "our" music endures today. Not just as sweet memories or quaint remembrances of a bygone era or, as in the case of your daughter, useful songs for continuing the protest, but for itself as well. The music still lives, still affects today's music as well. Paul McCartney and so many others from that era still bring in audiences of all ages!
That was never true of earlier generations. I think back to when I was a kid. When the Big Band days were over, they were OVER, by golly, along with some of the pop music from the early 50s -- Perry Cuomo, some of the groups. Sinatra was one of few who endured to an extent, but I think he was a special case. I was never a fan, but he had them aplenty. As for any music earlier than the 40s, it was over and forgotten very quickly.
OUR music endures. Our music changed music, helped change the world, and still endures after all these years. It's amazing to me.