Years ago, a friend acquainted me with the famous poem by William Wordsworth from which the uncanny quote comes, "The Child is father of the Man".
Often, I'm reminded of this quote – and of the friend.
I stumbled today upon an article in the New York Times which used the quote as title, with a twist: The Father Is Child of the Man, by Bruce Feiler.
The author quotes Mary Catherine Bateson, an anthropologist, as saying:
“A great amount of what parents learn we are taught by our children.”
I wished it were true. It should.
"MY HEART LEAPS UP WHEN I BEHOLD"
My heart leaps up when I behold
A rainbow in the sky:
So was it when my life began;
So is it now I am a man;
So be it when I shall grow old,
Or let me die!
The Child is father of the Man;
I could wish my days to be
Bound each to each by natural piety.
William Wordsworth, 1802.