52. All Is Well

"All beings belong to the Tao
always.
Sorrow begins
when parents forget this.

Forgetting that you belong,
you cast about for security
and cannot find it.
You look to your children
to bring you meaning,
and they cannot do it.
Seeing your pain,
they forget as well
and everyone is in darkness.

But if you can remember
that all is,
has been,
and will be,
well.
You will bring light to yourself
and to your children.

My father always worried
about the future.
I learned his lesson well.
It has taken me years to unlearn,
and still I forget.
What will your children have to unlearn?
How can you begin now to help them?"

I have often thought that it's because of all the unlearning I had to do, that I had to wait so long to become a parent. This is not to say that I have, or will ever have, unlearned everything. But I have had by now plenty of time to focus on my own learning and growth. I sense that I was doing this for my children, so that I wouldn't have to do it with them. Now I will be able to give them so much more of myself.