JOSEPH
I got miffed at my fifteen-year-old son a couple of weeks ago. Now, I need to tell you that Hyrum is one of the finest young men you could meet. He is as honest as the day is long. He is smart, kind, clever, and as industrious as they come. I love this boy.
And yet, I found myself seething at him. In the moment, I felt he was rude, cold, ungrateful, and manipulative. That was my story about him. That story generated a potent emotion that was threatening to cause me to say something hurtful to him. He wasn’t behaving the way I wanted him to, and in the zeal of the moment, I felt an insane certainty that a well-aimed tirade might help him reform his life beginning this instant. In fact, I felt it was my moral duty as a loving parent to lay ...
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