【正文】 arallels no other industrialized nation. these are the ways young people in america express their hurt and their anger. but donamp。re not really home, because their heads are still at the office. and their kids? well, their kids just make do with whatever emotional crumbs they get. and you donamp。 to recreate the parent/child bond, renew its promise and light the way forward for all the beautiful children who are destined one day to walk this earth.
　　but since this is my first public lecture, and you have so warmly weled me into your hearts, i feel that i want to tell you more. we each have our own story, and in that sense statistics can bee personal.
　　they say that parenting is like dancing. you take one step, your child takes another. i have discovered that getting parents to rededicate themselves to their children is only half the story. the other half is preparing the children to reaccept their parents.
　　when i was very young i remember that we had this crazy mutt of a dog named amp。 a mix of wolf and retriever. not only wasnamp。t know with what. but whatever it was, it was enough to suck the spirit right out of that dog.
　　a lot of kids today are hurt puppies who have weaned themselves off the need for love. they couldnamp。t want any of us to make this mistake. thatamp。m calling upon all the worldamp。 beginning with all of us here tonight amp。t surprised to hear that i did not have an idyllic childhood. the strain and tension that exists in my relationship with my own father is well documented. my father is a tough man and he pushed my brothers and me hard, from the earliest age, to be the best performers we could be.
　　he had great difficulty showing affection. he never really told me he loved me. and he never really plimented me either. if i did a great show, he would tell me it was a good show. and if i did an ok show, he told me it was a lousy show.
　　he seemed intent, above all else, on making us a mercial success. and at that he was more than adept. my father was a managerial genius and my brothers and i owe our professional success, in no small measure, to the forceful way that he pushed us. he trained me as a showman and under his guidance i couldnamp。s how kids are, the little things mean so much to them and for me, that one moment meant everything. i only experienced it that one time, but it made me feel really good, about him and the world.
　　but now i am a father myself, and one day i was thinking about my own children, prince and paris and how i wanted them to think of me when they grow up. to be sure, i would like them to remember how i always wanted them with me wherever i went, how i always tried to put them before everything else. but there are also challenges in their lives. because my kids are stalked by paparazzi, they canamp。t we given an average childhood like all the other kids, they might ask? and at that moment i pray that my children will give me the benefit of the doubt. that they will say to themselves: amp。
　　i hope that they will always focus on the positive things, on the sacrifices i willingly made for them, and not criticize the things they had to give up, or the errors iamp。s child, and we know that despite the very best of plans and efforts, mistakes will always occur. thatamp。 we all did. my favorite food was glazed doughnuts and my father knew that. so every few weeks i would e downstairs in the morning and there on the kitchen counter was a bag of glazed doughnuts amp。 just the doughnuts. it was like santa claus.
　　sometimes i would think about staying up late at night, so i could see him leave them there, but just like with santa claus, i didnamp。t understand it or know how to deal with it. but he did know doughnuts.
　　and when i allow the floodgates to open up, there are other memories that e rushing back, memories of other tiny gestures, however imperfect, that showed that he did what he could. so tonight, rather than focusing on what my father didnamp。s harshness was a kind of love, an imperfect love, to be sure, but love nonetheless. he pushed me because he loved me. because he wanted no man ever to look down at his offspring.
　　and now with time, rather than bitterness, i feel blessing. in the place of anger, i have found absolution. and in the place of revenge i have found reconciliation. and my initial fury has slowly given way to forgiveness