It always reminds me how much easier it is to say I love you than to do it in real life. Love is accepting, patient, and supportive. I enjoy watching the dragons in the sky. Elegant as they fly on the wings of the wind. Fragile, yet easily defy the wind's wrath. But can do, we need to let them rise as far as possible, not drag them down. People are adoring dragons, like children, watching the colorful cavalcade in awe. Yet, when we fall in love with the flight of one of these fragile wonders, typically the first thing we do is to force the dragon to the ground. We break its wings, chaining it to the ground, while repeating I only do it for your benefit.
One day, I was walking to my car from my favorite model shop when a kind stranger came across me. Smiled at me, then glanced down at the boxes in my hands, and the smile disappeared. When saw me opening an expensive car, the smile returned immediately. All this in the flash of a few moments. A bit sad how easily we fall into this trap. Just because someone does not have the desirable religious or political views, the way they dress or even their hobbies, we can easily let go of potential good fortune. Or worse, we label it a defect and try to root it out by force.
As parents, we have an even greater responsibility not to break a newly forming personality. Similar to a Bonsai, forced into a life that is not natural for it. Looks beautiful, but at what cost?