Your children are not your children

Earlier today, while I was talking to Matkaman aka Mr Alag Natarajan, I saw this amazing poem by Kahlil Gibran, On Children, in his garden.

 Matkaman told me he raised daughter 95% based on what Gibran had to say. When his dog Snoopie turned 6 months, he decided to let the dog go. He removed the leash. Snoopie decided to stay but walks up and down the street and is unlike other pet dogs I've seen. It's actually very similar to a street dog right outside my parent's home, also called Snoopie, who is simply phenomenal. 

On Children by Kahlil Gibran in his masterpiece of Novel called The Prophet (published 1923):

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.

The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,

and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far.

Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;

For even as He loves the arrow that flies,

so He loves also the bow that is stable.

Thanks a million miles Matkaman for reintroducing me to this amazing poem by Gibran.

Both the Snoopies in my life, love me massaging their backs. Touch is phenomenally powerful. They don't care what I say, but they love how I make them feel. I'm glad that I'm able to put my Osteopathic skills to good use.