All parents damage their children. It cannot be helped. Youth, like pristine glass, absorbs the print of its handlers. Some parents smudge, others crack, a few shatter childhoods completely into jagged little pieces, beyond repair.

i never thought of it that way, but mitch albom does seem to have a point. everybody has their own flaws and imperfections, and i guess it's only inadvertent and inevitable that parents imprint the defects of their own personality and the shortcomings of their lifestyles onto their offspring, and that is only just part and parcel of our human nature and the impact of our interaction with others. so, quite clearly then, the solution is to not have kids. because, if you never have kids, you will never have the chance to transfer your vices to them, and you will therefore never be responsible for ruining another human being's life, which is perhaps worse than ruining your own life, because it does not belong to you in the first place.

then again, now that i think about it, i think i'd like to have one or two kids for the kick of it, even if only for the sake of feeling what it's like to have a watery cushion attached to your torso 24/7. in some sick way, it must be cool to know that you could annihilate another human life by simply walking into wall. gives you some added responsibility and the feeling of power and whatnot. but not that i'm feeling maternal instincts now or anything, just that i think there's the possibility i might relent from my no kids policy sometime in the future. however, that doesn't mean that my overall impression of kids has changed in any way- all kids are still freaks. i know because i was one.

oh, and lest i forget- The Five People You Meet In Heaven is seriously brilliant, though i admit that it did threaten to get a bit sappy at some parts. but i thought that the sentimentality was all in good taste, and it's thought-provoking and sweet at the same time. almost inspirational, in fact. which should be enough to disgust me on most days, but like i said, mitch albom does a good job of it. really, go read it if you haven't already.