Because (grandparents) are usually free to love and guide and befriend the young without having to take daily responsibility for them, they can often reach out past pride and fear of failure and close the space between generations.
Interpretation
Grandparents can provide unconditional love and guidance to their grandchildren without the burdens of everyday responsibility.
This quote emphasizes the unique role that grandparents play in the family dynamic, highlighting their ability to form deep, meaningful connections with their grandchildren. Since grandparents are not encumbered by daily parenting responsibilities, they have the freedom to nurture relationships that help bridge the generational gap, fostering understanding and emotional support across ages.
In practice
In a speech on family values, one could use this quote to highlight the importance of grandparents in a child's life.
Acknowledging the physical realities of our planet does not mean a dismal future of endless sacrifice. In fact, acknowledging these realities is the first step in dealing with them. We can meet the resource problems of the world - water, food, minerals, farmlands, forests, overpopulation, pollution - if we tackle them with courage and foresight.
The preeminent obstacle to peace is Israel's colonization of Palestine.
I would say the biggest handicap we have right now is some nutcases in our country that don't believe in global warming. I think they are going to change their position because of pressure from individuals, because the evidence of the ravages of global warming is already there.
If I were president, I'd be very glad to see the Palestinians have a nation recognized by the United Nations. There's no downside to it.
My understanding of racial discrimination as a child was highly distorted because the most prominent man in Archery was an African-American bishop. When he came home from up north, where he was in charge of A.M.E. churches in five states, it was front-page news. He was the most successful man in my life.
Our American values are not luxuries but necessities, not the salt in our bread, but the bread itself. Our common vision of a free and just society is our greatest source of cohesion at home and strength abroad, greater than the bounty of our material blessings.
I conveniently forgot to remember that people only have two hands, or, as another parent once said of having a third child, it's time for a zone defense instead of man-to-man.
If you would reform the world from its errors and vices, begin by enlisting the mothers.
In Afghan society, parents play a central role in the lives of their children; the parent-child relationship is fundamental to who you are and what you become and how you perceive yourself, and it is laden with contradictions, with tension, with anger, with love, with loathing, with angst.
Some parents let their kids sleep at other people's houses, where they drink alcohol, watch TV for hours and God knows what else. But if you say you have to get all A's and practice the violin for two hours, then they consider that abusive. That upsets me.
If you have a child, I said, you have a responsibility at least to stay alive.
While the days of parenting may seem so long, the years are so short.
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