Undue Praise For Dad

The Sunday paper had the obligatory A1 Father's Day feature (link below). I took issue with it.

Here's why:

The story praises some guy for keeping his son when he fell on hard times. But the guy doesn't deserve any praise. He was a 50-year-old truck driver who met a druggie whore and knocked her up. She gave him shingles and then she went to jail, I believe. He then quit his job driving a truck and spent some time in the hospital receiving treatment for the shingles. After he was released, he didn't work for another year, apparently due to the shingles. He and his 3-year-old son are currently living in a homeless shelter. Apparently, he's being praised for not releasing his son into state custody. But I don't see how that isn't the better alternative. I mean, foster care is screwed up these days, but it couldn't be any worse than homelessness. Is this the best friggin' Father's Day story they could find?


http://www.orlandosentinel.com/orl-fathersday1707jun17,0,3500829.story

 

Story says he married the mother and the kid was born more than a year later. What definition of knocked up does that fall under.

I think it's an interesting story of a guy with a couple strikes against him still trying to be a good dad -- which is certainly his right.

 

Paging Will Smith. Your next film role has been located.

 

You'll be staring along side Lindsay Lohan.

 

Perhaps the child was conceived while they were married, but that doesn't make him any more responsible.

Ace, I see your point. It's certainly an interesting story. But I sort of felt betrayed. I was expecting to read about a great father. Instead, I read about what I thought was a shitty father.

I'd love to hear that things worked out well for this guy and his son. But he certainly hasn't set himself up with a great track record. The fact is that most guys with two strikes against them end up striking out.