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Intergenerational Bonding
His mom looked the list over, put her arm
around him and said,
"For taking care of you
since you were
a
noise at one end and
a
mess
at the other, NO CHARGE. For sitting up at
night when you were sick and then going to
work the next day, NO CHARGE."
"For helping you many times with your
homework, NO CHARGE. For taking you
to
school and picking you up 2, 000 times, nearly
200 times this year alone, plus ball games,
fundraising events, cheerleading practice, band
practice, outings, NO CHARGE."
"For the time and the tears you've caused
throughout the years, NO CHARGE. For
advice, knowledge, and some money for
college, NO CHARGE."
The teenager, having learned the cost of
real love, took his bill and marked it "PAID-IN–
FULL." And Mom said,
"Son, all we owe
each other is our Jove. See, we pay our debt to
the past, by being responsible for the future."
Some years ago, United Technologies ran
the following
"PLEDGE"
in the Wall Street
Journal (I have used it many, many times with
educational audiences):
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