During one of my sessions one boy revealed his story - He was having fun with his friends at one of the friend's house, his parents were out for an overnight plan and most of the time kids enjoy this time and freedom in their own way. They had arranged for alcohol and some snacks and were extremely thrilled that they got a chance to do something they are not otherwise allowed to. Just when they were about to open the bottle, his friend's father in whose house the party was arranged, appeared and he saw the bottle in this particular boy's hand, he got very angry, shouted at all the boys and called up his father and complained that your son is spoiling the whole gang and will not be allowed hereafter in my house. Hugely humiliated with the treatment and feeling heavy at heart as he was solely blamed for the episode, he walked out of the house. He knew his father would be mad with anger and was unable to face him; he kept roaming on empty roads for a long, until midnight. And then went back home, the lights were on and was worried about the scolding he may have to listen to, but nothing happened and nobody spoke to him at home that day. He started sobbing in front of the whole crowd saying his father never spoke to him till today. When he cooled down I asked him, did he try speaking to his father after that?the answer was a big - NO, He was too afraid to do that. We all were quiet for 10 min and then I just suggested him to write a letter to his father and the child poured his heart on the paper next day the boy came and thanked me as his father too cried and hugged him. Now the most important thing what I felt was the child and the father both suffered pain for 3 long years. Was it worth it. We all do mistakes and we all seek forgiveness, The most important thing is to understand the other person's perspective, Forget about others but when we look back at our life we remember so many incidents when we made huge mistakes, huge blunders, but at that time when we were actually doing the mistake we were 100% sure about it as we or anyone for that matter does not think that something is wrong and we still wanted to do it - we always have a justification for what we are doing, when we are doing it. Both of them were in pain for their own reasons, child as he expected his father to talk to him before punishing him so hugely and father as he thought the child has let him down. In order to punish the child he also punished himself secretly feeling he was responsible for his child's act. As both of them allowed the infection to remain inside it had taken up a shape of tumor. And if the child would not have written that letter to his father that day, it would have become cancerous. When the child left his friend's house he was wounded, in pain and should have thought of coming back home directly for the treatment, but that confidence was not created by his parents that - come what may - you are accepted by us. Mistakes would happen and we all know - 'to err is human' but instead of talking to his own child and listening to his side of the story the father chose to punish both of them by remaining silent, he stayed away from him when the child needed him the most. The emotional trauma that the child went through was seen clearly on his academic side but I am sure father too must have gone through his own bumpy ride. Communication with the child with the right maturity would have solved the problem I guess.