Dave's Writing Pages Good can imagine Evil, but Evil cannot imagine Good. - W.H. Auden A Certain World My Mother in Law 1 Dear Ann Landers Fictional Mother's Lament (with index) October 1999   2 The Sacred Wedding Vow A Letter Never Sent Aug 28, 1999   3 A Man Twice Blessed Fictional Toast to a Mother-in-Law October 1999   4 What Was: What Could Have Been The Bizarre Response  June 2000 5 In Praise of my Mother-in-Law Honest Words of Praise June 2000   This Be The Verse      They fuck you up, your mum and dad.         They may not mean to, but they do.      They fill you with the faults they had         And add some extra, just for you.      But they were fucked up in their turn         By fools in old-style hats and coats,      Who half the time were soppy-stern         And half at one another's throats.      Man hands on misery to man.         It deepens like a coastal shelf.      Get out as early as you can,         And don't have any kids yourself.    --Philip Larkin (1974)   From the Catechism of the Catholic Church On respect and obedience of children As long as a child lives at home with his parents, the child should obey his parents in all that they ask of him when it is for his good or that of the family. "Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord." Children should also obey the reasonable directions of their teachers and all to whom their parents have entrusted them. But if a child is convinced in conscience that it would be morally wong to obey a particular order, he must not do so. As they grow up, children should continue to respect their parents. They should anticipate their wishes, willingly seek their advice, and accept their just admonitions. Obedience toward parents ceases with the emancipation of the children; not so respect, which is always owed to them. This respect has its roots in the fear of God, one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. - The Fourth Commandment   Original Web Upload: December 1999 Last Update: April 12, 2003