January 17, 2004

Whether Michael Jackson is guilty or not, the child involved in the case must be suffering.

On a much lower level of child suffering is poor Ariel Lederman, whose father had him play guitar for the dying George Harrison.

The guitar, which George devoted one of his last moments to autographing, "will be disposed of privately," the NYT reports, according to the terms of the settlement. George's estate showed kindness and decency toward the boy. The settlement agreement reads:
"The Harrison estate will provide Dr. Lederman's son, Ariel, with a replacement guitar... The Harrison estate never contended that Ariel did anything wrong and appreciates that Ariel is an admirer of George Harrison."
Parents will forever seek advantages for their own children and fear missing any opportunity that they might have snagged for them. Children will forever risk humiliation from their parents' efforts on their behalf.
"With every mistake, we must surely be learning..."
While my replacement guitar gently cringes.

1 comment:

Icepick said...

Parents will forever seek advantages for their own children and fear missing any opportunity that they might have snagged for them.

Now that I have a child I can comment on this. I don't fear missing any or every opportunity for my child. Them's the breaks, kid! Daddy didn't pick the winning Lotto numbers. Daddy really SHOULD have pushed all-in on that inside straight draw!

Sure, those are stupid examples, but it still holds. Any decision one makes must limit other opportunities in the future, just simply from a road-not-taken standpoint. No point in getting bent out of shape about it.