For me, happiness is just a word. It is tempting to speculate about what Frederick, Gus, or even Ana might have accomplished, achieved, had they received even the average amount of care and nurturing most parents bestow on their children. It is also tempting to blame messed up offspring on messed up parents. Hank is serving consecutive sentences totaling more than three hundred years, for murder, attempted murder, and robbery with violence, among other crimes. They believed in family ties and values, and all that kind of thing.
Love is a fundamental teaching, a moral imperative, of all the great religions.
Countless social service programs and professionals rely on the hope that even one person's caring can turn a troubled, or needy, individual around. As a preschooler, she was shy and fearful. She failed repeatedly in school, displaying poor impulse control, difficulty in concentration, and an inability to follow directions. Margey lied and stole. She broke rules and crossed boundaries over and over again, despite warnings and consequences.