"The dreams of parents are never fulfilled in their children,
at least not in the way that parents originally dreamed them."

Most of us, the parents, "wish and then realize" what is written in the above paragraph.
I did too in the earlier times when our children were young and growing.
It says as if we shouldn't expect our children to fulfill our dreams.
It seems to be true. If we give up, we will have peace in our mind.

"They correct the wayward child, but do not check.
They intercede, but never intervene."

What if some of our children aren't wayward?
What if they are eager to succeed?
Then, is it a bad thing to expect them to fulfill our dreams?
Is intervention or interference a bad thing to practice?

Will there be "Tiger Woods, Seri Pak, or Michelle Wie" without their parents
who might have been overzealously ambitious and pushed their kids to their goal ??

What is good or bad, I don't dare to believe that I know, and we may never know.

THE MOST AND THE GREATEST

The most destructive habit....Worry
The greatest joy....Giving

The greastest loss....Loss of self respect
The most satistfying work....Helping others

The most ugliest personality trait....Selfishness
Our greastest natural resource....Our youth

The greastest problem to overcome....Fear
The worst thing to be without....Hope

The greastest "shot in the arm"....Encouragement
The most effective sleeping pill....Pece of mind

The most cripping failure disease....Excuses
The most powerful force of life....Love

The word's most incredible computer....The brain
The deadliest weapon....The tongue

The most power- filled words...."I Can"
The greatest asset....Faith

The most worthless emotion....Self -pity
The most beautiful attire....SMILE

The most prized possession....Integrity
The most powerful channel of communication....Prayer

The most contagious sprit....Enthusiasm
The most important thing in life....God

- Fr. Ed Belczack

Thanks for your pertinent comments, Webmaster.

The ideal situation certainly is when parents' dream turned out to be
their child's dream too.
I honestly believe Tiger Woods, Amadeus Mozart, Beethoven and so on
are the best examples.

If parents succeed in making their dreams their children's dreams,
they certainly are blessed people.
I believe the point Fr. Belczak is making is just that.
We parents somehow should try to make our children's dreams our dreams
whatever they are. The problem is that we parents make it too clear to our children
before our children convince themselves what their dreams are.

Most American children are distracted so much in all directions that
they do not know what they want to do with their lives
before they go colleges or even after graduating from colleges.
It seems it is their perogative as children of the wealthy country middle class or whatever.
We parents would agree with the fact that there is no perfect way for parenting.

During those old days in Korea, a reasonably good son would follow what father said.
I followed the wish of my parents and went to medical school. Sound familiar?
I knew a lot of other guys in my class did the same !!

But in the end, I feel very fortunate that I followed his wish.
Most of all, I am very glad that my father told me what to do !!
As he was the person who knew what was best for me,
I might have felt betrayed or abandoned if he didn't say anything about what I should be.

In this modern world of America, parents may not have the right to tell his children
what to be or not to be, but they should try positively to influence their children.
In this aspect, I do not agree with Father Belczak to stay at the sideline and just watch.
Those young kids in America will never ask their parents. Parents have to say it first !!

In an American phrase, "Listen to your mother !!" is not a shabby idea at all.
Parents might make much less mistake in determining the future of his children.
In most cases, they may know better than the child himself.

Having said that, do I belong to the old generation of my father's time?

PS: Having read what Father Belczak said, I didn't want to just pass it up as a good idea
or bad idea. Instead, I wanted to write a small essay on the subject in the comment space.
Only problem on that is I tend to be anti-authority and prefer to disagree !! Ha, ha.
I wish we all should do that at least once in a while.