This sentence reverses the usual direction of parental influence, asking adults to take their children as a model worth emulating rather than a project to be shaped. Gibran's paradox, that the parent should strive towards the child's innocence while refraining from imposing his own image, is among the most discussed moral claims in the book. Suheil Bushrui treats the couplet as an expression of Gibran's view that spiritual growth is reciprocal, so that the older generation learns as much as the younger. Mikhail Naimy's account of Gibran's friendships with younger writers in New York supports this reading, since Naimy describes a Gibran who encouraged his companions to find their own voice. Virginia Hilu's letters include reflections on Gibran's own sense of being shaped by others, which give the passage a personal resonance. Commentators have sometimes read the line as a loose anticipation of later developmental psychology, though such a link is interpretive rather than documented in Gibran's own writing. The English text is stable across editions, and the sentence can be quoted with confidence.
Commentary
This sentence reverses the usual direction of parental influence, asking adults to take their children as a model worth emulating rather than a project to be shaped. Gibran's paradox, that the parent should strive towards the child's innocence while refraining from imposing his own image, is among the most discussed moral claims in the book. Suheil Bushrui treats the couplet as an expression of Gibran's view that spiritual growth is reciprocal, so that the older generation learns as much as the younger. Mikhail Naimy's account of Gibran's friendships with younger writers in New York supports this reading, since Naimy describes a Gibran who encouraged his companions to find their own voice. Virginia Hilu's letters include reflections on Gibran's own sense of being shaped by others, which give the passage a personal resonance. Commentators have sometimes read the line as a loose anticipation of later developmental psychology, though such a link is interpretive rather than documented in Gibran's own writing. The English text is stable across editions, and the sentence can be quoted with confidence.