isaacson

Kawaga’s Ideal

boys smiling
Build me a son, Lord, who will be strong enough to know when he is weak and brave enough to face himself when he is afraid. One who will be proud and unbending in defeat, yet humble and gentle in victory.

A son whose wishbone will not be where his backbone should be. A son who will know that to know himself is the foundation stone of all true knowledge.

Rear him, I pray, not in the paths of ease and comfort, but under the stress and spur of difficulties and challenges. Here let him learn to stand up in the storm; here let him learn compassion for those who fail.

Build me a son, whose heart will be clean, whose goal will be high. A son who will master himself before he seeks to master others. One who will learn to laugh, yet never forget how to weep. One who will reach into the future, but never forget the past. And after all these are his, add, I pray, enough of a sense of humor so that he may always be serious, but not take himself too seriously. A touch of humility so that he may always remember the simplicity of true greatness, the open mind of true wisdom, the meekness of true strength.

Then I his father, will dare in the recesses of my own heart to whisper, “I have not lived in vain.”