I Have A Right

I love music, especially the symphonic metal bands Nightwish, Within Temptation, Amaranthine, Krypteria...there are more, but I'm not going to list all of them here. Just say that I love this genre of music.

Recently, I came across a song by Sonata Arctica that got me thinking. This song is “I Have A Right”. 

If you listen and pay attention to the lyrics, which you can find here, you can see what it's about. The thing that struck me the most about this song is that it talks about the rights of children, to be taught to love everyone no matter who they are.

This is a powerful message that I wish parents would teach their children now. But in order to teach their children this, they need to open their minds more as well. In order to bring their children into the modern world, where love and understanding is key, they must shed the fears and teachings of their own parents to do it.

How often do we say “I'm not my mom/dad”? I know I say it a lot. But I've found myself saying things that could only have come out of my parents' mouths. I've come a long way and have found my own path, but still I feel the lingering effects of the way I was raised.

I believe we need to step up and let go of the negative things taught to us. We need to be more open to things like marriage equality, other races, other people's religious practices. There needs to be more openness.

What do you think? Do you think a parent's attitude influences a child all the way into adulthood? Or do you think a child can get away from their parents' influence and form their own opinions?