this column is angry, but brilliant. (thanks for the link, Toni.)

My favorite line: Maybe what bothers me is how Carpe Diem Syndrome is just half of the game. Or a tenth. Hundredth. Because, the truth is, you could eat at every restaurant in the world and see every exotic wonderland and view a million great works of art and still be quite the miserable, spiritually vacant, neoconservative jackass with a world-class photo album and the soul of a cockroach. Ain’t it the truth?

His theory applies not just to life, but to parenting, too, doesn’t it? Because we can crank out kids with high GPAs and test scores, straight teeth, and flawless public behavior; we can take them to all the right classes and put them in the right enrichment activities and stock their bookshelves with the right titles and get them in the right preschool program; we can make sure they’ve been exposed to classical music and ethnic foods and art and exotic locales in their formative years; but if we don’t dig a little deeper, we can still raise “miserable, spiritually vacant jackasses with a world-class photo album and the soul of a cockroach.”

Along those lines, this week at largerfamilies.com we’re posing the question: If you could pick just one quality or trait for your children to possess (i.e. compassion, a sense of humor, honesty, etc) what would it be, and why? I’d love to hear which qualities make the top of YOUR personal wish list for your kids.