AUTHOR'S NOTE: The following scenario is fictional, but I would not be the least bit surprised if something like it is taking place in more than one home these days.
Picture, if you will, a father sitting on the edge of his young son's bed as the last fading sunshine of a fall day gives way to the gloaming. Though it is getting hard to see in the upstairs room, no light is on save for the tiny single bulb of the son's nite-lite, a grinning ceramic likeness of Clifford the Big Red Dog. The father is talking gently, softly to his son; the subject is one much like the day: cold and dim. He is trying without much success to ease the child's mind, to get rid of his fear....
"Listen, buddy -- sometimes these things happen, even when you don't want them to. I know it's hard to understand now but when you're a little older it might be easier. You need to know that we both still love you as much as before, and that will never ever change. It's just that the two of us, well....we just can't be together anymore....not like we used to be. Okay?"
With wide, anxious eyes and a trembling lower lip his small son nods his head. Even at his young age he understands that just as he needs his Dad, right now for some reason his Dad needs this from him every bit as much. With every ounce of courage he can muster he tries to look his father in the eye, the way he told him to, and respond confidently and convincingly. His body language betrays him, however, and reveals the scared child behind the brave mask.
For a moment the two men -- one grown and the other little more than an infant -- stare helplessly at each other. The boy wonders if he gave his father what he seemed to need so badly. He will never know the answer. Neither of them will ever speak of what they saw in the other's eyes that sad day.
This little episode is all too common in today's world of disposable convenience and frighteningly little commitment. Tsk tsk, you mutter -- another family broken beyond repair; another divorce, another do-over for Mom and Dad, and another child left scarred and alone in a scary, difficult world. But that's not at all what's happening. Take a closer look:
CLICK LINK FOR REST OF STORY.
http://yourdaddysredskins.blogspot.com/
Picture, if you will, a father sitting on the edge of his young son's bed as the last fading sunshine of a fall day gives way to the gloaming. Though it is getting hard to see in the upstairs room, no light is on save for the tiny single bulb of the son's nite-lite, a grinning ceramic likeness of Clifford the Big Red Dog. The father is talking gently, softly to his son; the subject is one much like the day: cold and dim. He is trying without much success to ease the child's mind, to get rid of his fear....
"Listen, buddy -- sometimes these things happen, even when you don't want them to. I know it's hard to understand now but when you're a little older it might be easier. You need to know that we both still love you as much as before, and that will never ever change. It's just that the two of us, well....we just can't be together anymore....not like we used to be. Okay?"
With wide, anxious eyes and a trembling lower lip his small son nods his head. Even at his young age he understands that just as he needs his Dad, right now for some reason his Dad needs this from him every bit as much. With every ounce of courage he can muster he tries to look his father in the eye, the way he told him to, and respond confidently and convincingly. His body language betrays him, however, and reveals the scared child behind the brave mask.
For a moment the two men -- one grown and the other little more than an infant -- stare helplessly at each other. The boy wonders if he gave his father what he seemed to need so badly. He will never know the answer. Neither of them will ever speak of what they saw in the other's eyes that sad day.
This little episode is all too common in today's world of disposable convenience and frighteningly little commitment. Tsk tsk, you mutter -- another family broken beyond repair; another divorce, another do-over for Mom and Dad, and another child left scarred and alone in a scary, difficult world. But that's not at all what's happening. Take a closer look:
CLICK LINK FOR REST OF STORY.
http://yourdaddysredskins.blogspot.com/
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