What, if anything, do children owe their parents?

This may seem like a debatable topic, but let me just quote answers from this wonderful Quora Q&A that I generally agree with:

Children do not owe anything to their parents, purely by virtue of the relationship of parenthood.

Any adult, who believes a child becomes indebted due to the act of raising that child, is ill-prepared to raise children. That parent will end up with a child who is resentful of the parent.

Nothing from parenthood itself. People choose to become parents because they want to be parents, and not in an effort to do the kids a favor. […] But of course parents deserve the same courtesy as every other human being: if they treat you well, they deserve to be treated well.

Parenting mistakes to avoid

If your child is secretive and lacks trust, it might be because of your excessive irritability.

If your child often shows envy and jealousy, it might be because you compare her too often with someone else.

If a child is rude, it might be because they’re following the example of their parents or a family member.

If your child lies to you, it might be because you reacted too harshly to their previous mistake.

If your child doesn’t respect others, it might be because you tell her what to do without acknowledging her feelings.

More at: brightside.me

Each of us is our own world

Every person sees the world in a unique way. When someone dies it is, in a way, the death of an entire world.

The man, who kills a man, kills a man. The man, who kills himself, kills all men; as far as he is concerned he wipes out the world. His act is worse (symbolically considered) than any rape or dynamite outrage. For it destroys all buildings: it insults all women.

The thief is satisfied with diamonds; but the suicide is not: that is his crime. He cannot be bribed, even by the blazing stones of the Celestial City. The thief compliments the things he steals, if not the owner of them. But the suicide insults everything on earth by not stealing it. He defiles every flower by refusing to live for its sake. There is not a tiny creature in the cosmos at whom his death is not a sneer.

When a man hangs himself on a tree, the leaves might fall off in anger and the birds fly away in fury: for each has received a personal affront. […] The man’s crime is different from other crimes — for it makes even crimes impossible.

– G. K. Chesterton

Source: reddit.com