6 ms·
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
by DavidSJ 12y ago
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.
...
http://www.katsandogz.com/onchildren.html http://www.katsandogz.com/onchildren.html
- StevePerkins 12y agoJust curious why you chose to truncate a few lines away from the finish, rather than simply pasting the poem in its entirety? Was it because the last few lines take a vaguely-religious turn, and you thought the audience here would be hostile? I have no strong opinion either way there, I just find the edit interesting.
- DavidSJ 12y agoIt's not because I thought the audience would be hostile, but I don't like those last few lines (mainly because of that turn), and think it's a better poem without them. Do you think it's better to leave it intact?
- true_religion 12y agoI'd agree with you. The last few lines add a completely new agent and change the meaning of the poem.
- le_lenny_face 12y ago>change the meaning of the poem What? Those lines are the poem!
- ohjesusthatguy 12y agoIn the short time I've been reading HN, it's become clear that its readership likes to think of itself as more enlightened than the average mouthbreathing yokel. It doesn't mean they don't have their own orthodoxy, though, and religion is one of those things We Don't Acknowledge Around Here. Hell, I'm an atheist and I would have added the last lines anyway[0]. Of course, he didn't attribute the poem to the author anyway so we're supposed to imagine he wrote it, right?[1] [0]http://www.katsandogz.com/onchildren.html http://www.katsandogz.com/onchildren.html - the first thing I ran across, but at least the author's name is on it. EDIT: hey, he finally did the same google search I did! [1]http://nedroidcomics.tumblr.com/post/41879001445/the-internet http://nedroidcomics.tumblr.com/post/41879001445/the-interne...
- DavidSJ 12y agoI included the link in your zeroeth reference in my original post, well before anyone had replied. I had no intention to take credit for the poem, and assumed most readers here were smart enough to infer authorship from the link I included. Please, a little more charity in interpretation and a little more attention to detail would go a long way in keeping discourse friendly here.
- ohjesusthatguy 12y agoSays the guy editing poetry because he doesn't agree with the sentiment. Sure, I'll go easier on you next time.
- DavidSJ 12y agoI omitted the last few lines while including an ellipsis to indicate I had done so, and including a link to the original so people could see the full poem (as well as authorship) for themselves. I don't think I changed the meaning of the part I quoted, so I think the omission was fair, though I was conflicted about doing it since there really were only a few more lines remaining. Your accusation that I deliberately didn't name the author in order to take credit was false and assumes bad faith, especially given that, contrary to your assertion, the link to the full poem with named author was in my original post. I haven't seen a retraction or apology from you for that assertion despite its demonstrable inaccuracy, nothing but the assumption of bad faith and hostility. It's possible to express disagreement without either, which is what has generally made Hacker News discussions great. You can disagree with me without assuming every possible bad thing about me, and with a good faith desire to reach common understanding. I'll let you get the last word since I don't want to turn this into a flame war, but please be civil. Take care.
- joshuacc 12y agoI don't know about StevePerkins, but since I identified the last couple of lines you pasted as derived from The Book of Psalms[1], the poem already seemed to have taken the religious turn. :-) https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+127%3A3-5&version=NIV https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+127%3A3-5...
- melvinmt 12y agoUhm.. the book is titled "The Prophet" so I would think "that turn" is core to the message of the book.
- jobu 12y agoThanks! Great poem, and in many ways I see it in my kids. On the flip side I sometimes feel like this as a parent: http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=3659 http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=3659 (minus the last two panels)