My wife and daughter are catholic. I am not. I am nothing — in a spiritual sense.

At lunch, my wife explained to me that my daughter is at the age of reason; the threshold where people are deemed to begin to be morally responsible.

It’s a fascinating concept. If true, my child is now accountable for her acts in some profound sense a younger child is not. She can be generous, indifferent, self-absorbed, cruel and kind. She is capable of guilt, courage and hope.

Second grade was hard enough.