【正文】 as no one might catch him with his guard down. he was scared of human emotion, he didnamp。t be here tonight.
　　but it all begins with forgiveness, because to heal the world, we first have to heal ourselves. and to heal the kids, we first have to heal the child within, each and every one of us. as an adult, and as a parent, i realize that i cannot be a whole human being, nor a parent capable of unconditional love, until i put to rest the ghosts of my own childhood.
　　and thatamp。the hearts of the parents would be restored through the hearts of their children.amp。 to restore that broken covenant. we must all overe whatever crippling effects our childhoods may have had on our lives and in the words of jesse jackson, forgive each other, redeem each other and move on.
　　this call for forgiveness may not result in oprah moments the world over, with thousands of children making up with their parents, but it will at least be a start, and weamp。 tonight, be strong. beyond being strong, rise to the greatest challenge of all amp。ve got. i want the weight of my past lifted from my shoulders and i want to be free to step into a new relationship with my father, for the rest of my life, unhindered by the goblins of the past.
　　in a world filled with hate, we must still dare to hope. in a world filled with anger, we must still dare to fort. in a world filled with despair, we must still dare to dream. and in a world filled with distrust, we must still dare to believe.
　　to all of you tonight who feel let down by your parents, i ask you to let down your disappointment. to all of you tonight who feel cheated by your fathers or mothers, i ask you not to cheat yourself further. and to all of you who wish to push your parents away, i ask you to extend you hand to them instead. i am asking you, i am asking myself, to give our parents the gift of unconditional love, so that they too may learn how to love from us, their children. so that love will finally be restored to a desolate and lonely world.
　　shmuley once mentioned to me an ancient biblical prophecy which says that a new world and a new time would e, when amp。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.
　　almost a decade ago, i founded a charity called heal the world. the title was something i felt inside me. little did i know, as shmuley later pointed out, that those two words form the cornerstone of old testament prophecy. do i really believe that we can heal this world, that is riddled with war and genocide, even today? and do i really think that we can heal our children, the same children who can enter their schools with guns and hatred and shoot down their classmates, like they did at columbine? or children who can beat a defenseless toddler to death, like the tragic story of jamie bulger? of course i do, or i wouldnamp。 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。s child, and we know that despite the very best of plans and efforts, mistakes will always occur. thatamp。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。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。m calling upon all the worldamp。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。 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