These Things I Wish For You
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These Things I Wish for You
We tried so hard to make things better for our kids that we made them worse.
For my grandchildren, IÂ’d know better.
IÂ’d really like for them to know about hand-me-down clothes and home-made ice cream and leftover meatloaf. I really would.
My cherished grandson, I hope you learn humility by surviving failure and that you learn to be honest even when no one is looking.
I hope you learn to make your bed and mow the lawn and wash the car -- and I hope nobody gives you a brand-new car when you are sixteen.
It will be good if at least one time you can see a baby calf born, and you have a good friend to be with you if you ever have to put your old dog to sleep.
I hope you get a black eye fighting for something you believe in.
I hope you have to share a bedroom with your younger brother. And it is all right to draw a line down the middle of the room, but when he wants to crawl under the covers with you because heÂ’s scared, I hope youÂ’ll let him.
And when you want to see a Disney movie and your kid brother wants to tag along, I hope you take him.
I hope you have to walk uphill with your friends and that you live in a town where you can do it safely.
If you want a slingshot, I hope your father teaches you how to make one instead of buying one. I hope you learn to dig in the dirt and read books, and when you learn to use computers, you also learn how to add and subtract in your head.
I hope you get razzed by friends when you have your first crush on a girl, and that when you talk back to your mother you learn what Ivory soap tastes like.
May you skin your knee climbing a mountain, burn your hand on the stove and stick your tongue on a frozen flagpole.
I hope you get sick when someone blows smoke in your face. I donÂ’t care if you try beer once, but I hope you wonÂ’t like it. And if a friend offers you a joint or any drugs, I hope you are smart enough to realize that person is not your friend.
I sure hope you make time to sit on a porch with your grandpa or go fishing with your uncle.
I hope your mother punishes you when you throw a baseball through a neighborÂ’s window, and that she hugs you and kisses you when you give her a plaster of paris mold of your hand.
These things I wish for you -- tough times and disappointment, hard work and happiness.
By Lee Pitts
from Chicken Soup for the Golden Soul -
i hope that you will hope for these things for your grandchildren.
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I will wish that they can live life to the fullest, and would have tasted both happiness and sadness alikeOriginally posted by starblue:i hope that you will hope for these things for your grandchildren. 
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i think maybe i'm cut from different cloth but i threw away the Chicken Soup book i bought.. i thought it was dangerous
but that is immaterial
what i wish.. was sung in a song...
my breaking heart
and i agree
that you and i
would never be
so with my best
my very best
i set you free...
i wish you shelter from the storm
a cosy fire to keep you warm
but most of all
when snowflakes fall
i wish you love -
Why is that book dangerous?Originally posted by the Bear:i think maybe i'm cut from different cloth but i threw away the Chicken Soup book i bought.. i thought it was dangerous
but that is immaterial
what i wish.. was sung in a song...
my breaking heart
and i agree
that you and i
would never be
so with my best
my very best
i set you free...
i wish you shelter from the storm
a cosy fire to keep you warm
but most of all
when snowflakes fall
i wish you love
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I wish my kids will dare to dream and pursue their dreams.
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dangerous meh. i oni tot it as useless.
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Where got useless...some of them pretty heart-warming and inspiring leh...Originally posted by Ito_^:dangerous meh. i oni tot it as useless. -
it lulls people into a false sense of security that "everything will be all right"...
not everytime..
we work hard to make things well.. but they do not always turn out so..
these books sell because they give people things they want to read about.. some mushy tales where things work out eventually somehow.. some miracle.. something to vindicate their blind belief that somehow, even if you don't try to do anything at all, things will work out...
it gives seeds for people to trust blindly in mumbo-jumbo like horoscopes, and other nonsensical stuff that will fuel their delusion that, again, it'll all work out somehow...
so we end up with a lot of people who sit around, waiting and expecting things to happen for them.. like as if the whole world owes that miracle to them.. the old chinese saying of sitting by a tree waiting for the rabbit to appear...
and fuels a lot of "diminished responsibility" types...
i am in the wrong racket...
all i had to do was to write a pile of stories that will give people diabetes with the sugary content, and i could make a mint... it'll be terrible for the people, but who cares right? everyone's doing it..Originally posted by rainee:Why is that book dangerous? -
I see...but sometimes we need encouragement, but of course we should know nothing will come if we didn't work hard for it..Originally posted by the Bear:it lulls people into a false sense of security that "everything will be all right"...
not everytime..
we work hard to make things well.. but they do not always turn out so..
these books sell because they give people things they want to read about.. some mushy tales where things work out eventually somehow.. some miracle.. something to vindicate their blind belief that somehow, even if you don't try to do anything at all, things will work out...
it gives seeds for people to trust blindly in mumbo-jumbo like horoscopes, and other nonsensical stuff that will fuel their delusion that, again, it'll all work out somehow...
so we end up with a lot of people who sit around, waiting and expecting things to happen for them.. like as if the whole world owes that miracle to them.. the old chinese saying of sitting by a tree waiting for the rabbit to appear...
and fuels a lot of "diminished responsibility" types...
i am in the wrong racket...
all i had to do was to write a pile of stories that will give people diabetes with the sugary content, and i could make a mint... it'll be terrible for the people, but who cares right? everyone's doing it.. -
some of the stories, no one worked for anything.. and miraculously, things turned out right...
frankly, we have it in us.. and if we need someone to keep telling us, we've let ourselves down and forsaken our personal responsibility...
oh well.. we all see what we see
i happen to have a different perspective when compared with most peopleOriginally posted by rainee:I see...but sometimes we need encouragement, but of course we should know nothing will come if we didn't work hard for it.. -
I like the stories...
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Tough love
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will teach you to be a stronger personOriginally posted by The man who was death:Tough love ain't a bad thing if you wan to survive in this world -
I prefer gentle loveOriginally posted by rainee:will teach you to be a stronger person ain't a bad thing if you wan to survive in this world -
there are many things that can only be learnt if you experience them first hand, stories are forever stories.Originally posted by rainee:Where got useless...some of them pretty heart-warming and inspiring leh...
inspirations and motivations can only work if you truely strived out of of your own power, and many times out of depseration, and not because someone else tell you what to do.
the same goes for rich dad poor dad, dun understand why people read em. even if u read a million chicken soup for yr soul books, nothing will change. -
i dunno why but suddenly i miss my dad very badly
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I am not saying something will definitely change. I love to read, and I read widely. It is just nice to be able to read about others' experience that's all, and sometimes reading about them will make you want to strive to achieve success.Originally posted by Ito_^:there are many things that can only be learnt if you experience them first hand, stories are forever stories.
inspirations and motivations can only work if you truely strived out of of your own power, and many times out of depseration, and not because someone else tell you what to do.
the same goes for rich dad poor dad, dun understand why people read em. even if u read a million chicken soup for yr soul books, nothing will change.
So not that reading about them would change anything, but it will probably encourage you to make a difference in your own life as well as in others' life.
Just my opinion