Miri Swift's Key Ideas from Thank Your Wicked Parents
by Richard Bach

Thank you for discounting my pain, so that I could learn to let it go.

Thank you for not believing in me, so that I could begin believing in myself.

Thank you for making my life miserable, to show me that I allow my miseries and create my joys.

Thank you for treating me like dirt, so I could learn that I’m diamonds.

Thank you for beating me, so that I shall never harm myself or others.

Thank you for denying me, so I can affirm myself.

Thank you for calling me names, so I could redefine myself in brighter words.

Thank you for trying to crush my dreams and smother my hopes, to show me it’s not your belief that makes them real, but mine.

Thank you for being unreliable, so that I could learn to count on myself.

Thank you for hating me, so that I could love who I am, and who I'm yet to be.

Thank you for abusing me, so that I shall treat myself always with respect.

Thank you for abandoning me. I found myself along the way.

Thank you for despising me, so that I could honor the person I've decided to become.

Thank you for breaking your promises to me. I shall keep mine to others.

Thank you for being the person I never want to be, making it easy for me to become your opposite.

Thank you for telling me I'll never amount to anything, so I'm free to become anyone I choose.

Thank you for lying to me, so that I treasure truth.

Thank you for showing me chaos, so that I value order.

Thank you for shouting at me, so that I'm soft-spoken today.

Thank you for neglecting me, so that I'll treasure myself.

Thank you for ignoring my gifts, so I could nourish them in spite of odds.

Thank you for your bitterness, so that I could learn sweet gratitude.

Thank you for not supporting me, so that I've prospered on my own.

Thank you for trying to make me feel guilty, so that I'll never again change my path for someone else's sake.

Thank you for your endless complaining, so that I've learned to accept the consequences of my choices.

Thank you for expecting the worst of me, so that I demand the best of me.

Thank you for not supporting my choices, so that I can trust them on my own.

Thank you for trying to poison my mind, so that I learned to dissolve my own destructive thoughts.

Thank you for putting me down, so that I can ignore value judgements of those I don't admire.

Thank you for choosing to destroy yourself, so that I build myself strong and bright.

Thank you for doing to me what your parents did to you. I'll break that cycle with my children.

Thank you for abusing and assaulting me when I was helpless, to teach me I cannot be destroyed.

Thank you for restricting me, so that I refuse to limit myself or others.

Thank you for raising me without guidance, so that I learned to guide myself.