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Show i He was given everything Once there was a mom and dad. At least they wanted to be a mom and dad. They planned and dreamed and hoped and waited. Finally, the stork delivered their blue-packaged bundle, signalling their arrival into the world of parenthood. They were ecstatic. Life stretched out before them in a rosy glow. Look out world, here he comes! Nothing would be too good for their son, . they vowed. The first shock came when he cried. No, he didn't cry -- he screamed. He turned purple with the effort. They longed for the return of their pink-checked, soundly sleeping infant. What would pacify him? They quickly found it, and to their relief, the screaming ceased. After the incident, a pacifier was always at the ready to ensure the tantrum would not be repeated. Whenever he reached for anything, it was handed to him before he could get upset at Jiis inability to get it himself. When he was learning to walk, enabling him to reach more, loving arms were stretched about him protecting him from a possible bump or fall. He entertained himself by banging with a toy on whatever was close enough to make a loud noise, and was gratified to see how many would answer his demands. The mom and dad loved him so much. They would stop at nothing to give him everything. As he grew, it became a game with him to see who could get to him first to prevent the tantrum. The circle of protection grew from mom and dad to grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. On his first day in nursery school, Mom carefully explained to the teacher just how to handle him. Never must he be allowed to want for anything. It amused him to see just what he could get Teacher to do for him. Since mom and the dad were paying an expensive fee for her services, she complied with their demands. de-mands. He "graduated" from nursery school with a feeling of power. The world was him umbrella. Enrollment in the public school system brought new challenges. chal-lenges. Teachers were a little harder to convince, but after all, they were "public servants", and the mom and the dad made sure they knew who was "public" and who was "servant". "Discipline" was a word that was batted around quite a bit, but if you worked it right, you could frighten the teachers. After all, they needed to learn who was boss, and "discipline" brought the mom and the dad running. Eventually, teachers were also trained to ward off the screaming. If schoolwork was too hard, or if there were more exciting things to do, the mom and the dad could always be counted on to fill in. They knew all of that stuff a lot better anyway. Some of his friends got after-school jobs. He considered it -even got one for awhile. It was soon scrubbed in favor of more interesting "fun" things. The job was a lot of work, and there were more entertaining things to do. Anyway, none of his best friends worked at anything either, and he had to belong. If life became dull and he wanted to liven things up, he and his friends targeted a teacher to see how much trouble they could cause him. That was amusing for awhile, and afterwards the pacifiers came quickly and easily. For awhile it was fun to see how quickly he could get people to use the pacifier to forestall the tantrum, but gradually it became boring and he looked for new amusements. There were several of his friends looking for new thrills also, and it became a kind of game to see what they could get away with. They found many willing to look the other way to avoid the tantrum. They became fearless. After all, life was for the taking. And take they did. The mom and the dad sat down to look at the paper with a vague, uneasy feeling. Their blue bundle had not come home until the wee hours, and answered their anxious questions with a baleful stare. Then he had left again and hadn't returned. The evening headlines screamed at them. "Wave of Juvenile Offenders Offen-ders Swamps Justice System." The policeman on the other side of the knock minced no words. Their son was a "juvenile offender" - a criminal. Tragedy had entered the present and clouded the rosy future. The bewildered mom and dad looked justice in the face and murmured, "But we have given him everything." |