Our system is the height of absurdity, since we treat the culprit both as a child, so as to have the right to punish him, and as an adult, in order to deny him consolation.
quote by Claude Levi-Strauss
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Related quotes
Be a child-parent-adult
To the child, it is a day.
To the parent, it is a night.
To the adult both are inclusive.
The child lives in fantasy.
The parent lives in fallacy.
It is the adult that lives,
Where he is put, in ecstasy.
The child admires things.
The parent criticizes them.
The adult realizes them.
The child appreciates.
The parent deprecates.
The adult rationalizes.
The poet is the child in man.
The priest is the parent in man.
The logician is the adult in man.
Live a child to be youthful.
Live a parent to be awesome.
Live an adult to be credible.
27.01.2000, Kottayam
poem by Rm. Shanmugam Chettiar
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If you treat a sick child like an adult and a sick adult like a child, everything usually works out pretty well.
quote by Black Hawk
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Frequently parents forget that children are people. I don't try to treat Kristen as an adult, but I do try to treat her as a person, with a child's sensibilities.
quote by Kent McCord
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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We blame conveniently.
A stole from B.
Who is the culprit?
If it is A, why did B steal from C?
A theft occurred.
Who is the culprit?
The greed to get or
The greed to hoard.
A boy teased a girl.
Who is the culprit?
His thirst or her looks.
A tree fell down.
Who is the culprit?
The storm or the soil.
We fix the culprit conveniently.
11.06.2007.
poem by Rm. Shanmugam Chettiar
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An adult is still a child
A child imitates its mother with air.
An adult imitates models to seem fair.
A child imagines a child in a doll
And enjoys tending it with fantasy.
An adult imagines some ones in his
And experience bliss in fantasy.
A child fears and pretends ignorance.
An adult dreads and pretends innocence.
Though old, still a child, I amuse myself
Though wise, still a child, I fool myself.
12.06.2008
poem by Rm. Shanmugam Chettiar
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Gender determination
‘Is this a man or a woman? ’
asked a child the other,
pointing to a nude picture.
‘How can I, no dress? ’
answered the other child.
‘Is this a male or a female? ’
asked an adult the other,
pointing to a clothed child.
‘How can I, it’s dressed.”
Answered the other adult.
Child decides by clothes.
Adult confirms without cloth
01.08.2008
poem by Rm. Shanmugam Chettiar
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The God should punish
God, will You punish for that sin
That I did when I was a child?
God, will You punish for that sin
That I did repeatedly?
God, will You punish for that sin
That I made someone do?
Yes, You must. Else you will spare
Those who have harmed me.
19.12.2007
poem by Rm. Shanmugam Chettiar
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That which seems the height of absurdity in one generation often becomes the height of wisdom in the next.
quote by John Stuart Mill
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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That which seems the height of absurdity in one generation often becomes the height of wisdom in another.
quote by Adlai E. Stevenson
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Fundamental of Liar Chapter CXIII: Denial
Deny it with smile, deny it with silence
Deny it with elegance, deny it with distraction
Deny it with anger, deny it with challenge
Deny it with promise, deny it with comfort
Deny it with tear, deny it with emotion
Deny it with effort, deny it with cruelty
Deny it with forget, deny it with indifferent
Deny it with joke, deny it with lie
poem by Maria Sudibyo
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The act of policing is, in order to punish less often, to punish more severely.
quote by Napoleon Bonaparte
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The Judge
Say of him what you please, but I know my child's failings.
I do not love him because he is good, but because he is my
little child.
How should you know how dear he can be when you try to weigh
his merits against his faults?
When I must punish him he becomes all the more a part of my
being.
When I cause his tears to come my heart weeps with him.
I alone have a right to blame and punish, for he only may
chastise who loves.
poem by Rabindranath Tagore
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Father's Denial
If you have a child that you conceived
Do not hide it from your family.
It may come back to you in your later years
And the truth you will have to share.
At the time “ we deny it”
And we try to hide it
For whatever reason that it’s done
It will hurt everyone.
The child like us, go through
The aches and pains
And we hide our heads in shame.
At some time in our life
We go into denial
And it will last for quite a while.
We may deny that we are “ addicts”
Just to avoid the family static.
But when we deny a child
That GOD has given
Then life does not become worth living.
If you look into your child’s eyes
You will know
that you can’t deny
That this child is part of you
And it’s mother knows it too.
Don’t live a life of regret
For it can get much worse yet.
ACCEPT
poem by Louis Rams
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Baby vs Adult
Baby is dumb
Adult has wisdom
Babies are small and crawl
Adults are tall and fall
Baby demands
Adult commands
Baby yearns to walk
Adult learns to work
Baby weeps
Adult sleeps
You carry a baby
You marry an adult
Baby chokes
Adult smokes
Baby stays at home to play
Adult brings home the pay
Baby cries
Adult sighs
Baby spikes milk
Adults like silk
And I saved this for the last
Baby at birth
Adult at death
Baby vs Adult becomes a thing of the past
poem by Sylvia Chidi
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In order to get beyond racism, we must first take account of race. There is no other way. And in order to treat some persons equally, we must treat them differently.
quote by Harry A. Blackmun
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Yesterday is childish
Eat the pill else I will call the ghost.
Mother said to the child who feared.
Eat the meal so I will fetch the moon.
The mother said to the child who obeyed.
To an adult it is childish.
Don’t do sins else the god will punish.
God men told the people who feared.
Do sacrifices so you reach the Heaven.
God men told the people who obeyed.
To the dead it is childish.
19.12.2007
poem by Rm. Shanmugam Chettiar
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I am o.k. you are o.k.
‘I lost my pen’
‘Don’t worry, I shall get you one’
A child like question
And an expected parental reply.
I am o.k., you are o.k.
‘I lost my pen’
‘I know you will do only that’
Parent reply belied the question.
I am o.k. You are not o.k.
‘I lost my pen’
‘You can borrow from me’
A child-like question.
An adult like answer.
I am o.k. You are o.k.
‘Is the bus late?
‘Which bus comes in time?
An adult seeking an adult
But received a parent reply.
I am o.k. You are not.
‘Is the bus late? ’
‘Yes, heard only ten minutes’
Both responded as adults.
I am o.k. You are o.k.
‘Let us play hide and seek’
‘Yes, let me hide first’
A child sought from a child
And received it.
I am o.k. You are o.k.
‘Let us play hide and seek’
‘No, this is not the time’
The reply is parental
And belied the question.
I am o.k. You are not.
‘Let us play hide and seek’
‘Yes. Then we should read’
A child and an adult reaction
I am o.k. You are o.k.
‘You should not smoke’
‘Yes. I shall cut it’
A parental question.
An adult reply.
I am o.k. You are o.k.
‘You should not smoke’
‘First, you cut your chewing’
A parental question
Seeking a child answer
But was belied.
I am o.k. You are not.
‘She should be taught a lesson’
‘ Yes, otherwise she will worsen’
A parent seeking a parent and got.
I am o.k. You are o.k.
‘I love you.’
‘I can’t forget you.’
Both are adult,
Expecting and receiving
As adults. I and you are o.k.
‘I love you’
‘Shh.. Others may watch”
A child’s reply to a child
Both are o.k.
‘I love you’
‘Bitch! Go to hell; I’ll report’
A parental reply, instead.
I am o.k. You are not.
‘I love you.’
‘I think you misunderstood.’
Both behaved as adults.
I am o.k. You are o.k.
You be the way you are expected.
You are then o.k. to others.
When others fail to be the way
You expected, you reason for it.
Others will be o.k. to you.
Then where is the individuality?
27.01.2000, Kottayam
poem by Rm. Shanmugam Chettiar
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Restricted
when i was a kid
they say it is restricted
for adults only
when i became an adult
they say
i must become a child
with all these
unexpected twists and turns
of my life
when i have become neither
a child
or an adult
a man or a woman at an age
where i can not really do
what i want
i say, i am so restricted
and it does not really matter
i am too old to think
i am too old to live
i am they say too young to die
and then when i said
i doubted everything
they tell me, and i like it really
that i am a wise man
of course, i do not understand
but as i am telling you
i like
from then on, just being
restricted
poem by Antonio Liao
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A child who is protected from all controversial ideas is as vulnerable as a child who is protected from every germ. The infection, when it comes- and it will come- may overwhelm the system, be it the immune system or the belief system.
quote by Jane Smiley
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Creativity represents a miraculous coming together of the uninhibited energy of the child with its apparent opposite and enemy, the sense of order imposed on the disciplined adult intelligence.
quote by Norman Podhoretz
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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