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One other aspect of this is a child's natural empathy. Kids absorb the environment and react. One could produce gentle and calm behavior while another could produce bickering brats. Unfortunately parents hold their children accountable for their bad behavior when the parents are largely responsible for the home environment. This injustice is then mirrored and spread by the children. Being "mean" is being cruel. Children do not consciously choose to be mean or kind. They just express how they feel. Some children are naturally kind in spite of their environment. They might even participate in a relatively cruel activity as part of growing and trying different things. But a kind child will feel the pain they inflict on other living things and quickly learn not to repeat the action. But there will be many times throughout life when that child will have the potential to veer off and not come back rendering them partially corrupted. Some naturally kind souls sustain kindness throughout their lives while others become increasingly corrupted. In this way some of society's offenders are in truth kind souls who might well have "left home" never to return because they mistakenly thought their behavior defined who they are or they could not forgive themselves.
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