"There was also the reckoning that comes around that age when you realize two things: one, your parents are just people, and nobody is a saint and nobody is a s

"There was also the reckoning that comes around that age when you realize two things: one, your parents are just people, and nobody is a saint and nobody is a sinner and everybody is somewhere in between." Wow, reading this hurts me because it makes me feel so privileged in life for having the family I had. That phrase is a terrible rationalization of her situation. Volunteering with kids that are drugs addicts or have other addictions, troublemakers that will enter a bank or shops to rob you always find a dysfunctional family: the father alcoholic, the mother with several lovers,or with psicological problems, beating the children because they hate them and never desire to have them, the kid alone all day. You become a parent for them because they desperately need it. Some times the only thing they need is a reference in life. I agree a parent that does not take care of his children should not expect to be taken care of as adult, but in European countries there are laws that force you to do it, a heavy burden.