Parenting Destroys The Child

It matters not

That man is the most evolved of creatures.

It matters only

What he has become.

 

Man is the only creature in existence

That becomes Less

Than what he was made to be.

 

A tree

Remains a tree.

 

An animal in the wild

Remains an animal in the wild.

 

A soil-dwelling insect

Remains a soil-dwelling insect.

 

Man is made as one thing

And gradually become less.

 

No man need have pride.

For how can there be pride

In becoming less?

 

Compare any newborn

To even the most intelligent of adults.

 

There is simply

No comparison.

 

How has this happened?

 

A flaw of nature?

 

Perhaps once a child can walk and talk

He should lose contact

With all men.

 

For it is human-to-human contact

That destroys the human.

 

Parenting destroys children.

 

Regardless of intent.

Regardless of intelligence.

Regardless of culture.

 

There is not a child

In the history of the world

That has not been destroyed

By parenting.

 

All that they accomplished,

All that they became,

Was despite parenting.

And not because of it.

 

The parent is not to blame.

For he is at the mercy of a role

He is simply ill-equipped to fulfill.

 

Is any man

Young, middle-aged, or old

Realized

Or enlightened?

 

Not that he should be

Or should not be.

 

The question is,

Is He?

 

A man who is not realized

Or enlightened

Is suffering.

 

A man who is suffering,

Can only offer,

Despite his best intentions, . . .

Suffering.

 

A man who is suffering

Is a man who is flailing.

A man who is flailing

Has as his immediate and primary allegiance,

Self-survival.

 

A man who is consumed with his own survival

Is not in a position

To tend fully to a child.

 

He will do what he can

With what he can muster.

But that is all.

 

And he can in no way

Be blamed for this.

 

As a parent

He gives what he can.

He does his best.

He has noble intentions.

 

But how much can be asked

From one who suffers

And is constantly drowning

For the whole of his life?

 

If it is a flaw in nature’s design

Is difficult to state with certainty.

 

But no human

Is made to be “parented.”

 

Most humans

Are not equipped

To even read this discourse.

 

For they will likely take from it

A desire to “do better.”

 

And to “improve” their parenting skills.

 

No man needs to “improve”

If he is Naturally Equipped for a task.

 

If a child reads this discourse,

He will use it as license to “do as he likes”

And break free from or condemn

His parents.

 

As always,

The reader

Is very likely

To Misunderstand.

 

The problem is not that the parent has done wrong,

Though he has made a million errors.

 

The problem is

That (1) he has become a Parent,

And (2) to a child

That was not meant to be Parented.

 

No amount of “behavior change”

Or “betterment”

Or “nice-talking”

Or “forgiveness”

Or “parenting skills”

Can change this.

 

A fish was not made

To walk on land.

 

If it washes onto the shore

It will not immediately die.

It will flop and flail and suffer.

 

No amount of “improvement”

Or self-help

Or “terrestrial living” skills

Will serve the fish.

 

A man is trying to find his way

In life . . .

And in the opaque depths

Of himself.

 

One who flops and flails

Can leave only this legacy

To his children.

 

Namaste.