Today I witnessed a family at the beach. It was Mom and Dad their daughter and 16 year old son. It upset me. It was clear they were quite well off which may be a contributor to the nature of the relationship between the parents and their son. What disturbed me was how they treated their son. They belittled him and were excessively critical. I don’t know anything about them and whether or not the son is a problem child but, I do know that he didn’t deserve what he was getting. Both Mom and Dad were relentless and it didn’t matter what the boy said he got verbally assaulted. I hated it.
What gets me though is a notion of unfairness. We loved our Brian and while there were times we had our differences which led to harsh words we never did it in public and in the end there were apologies, on both sides. At the core we were driven by love. I didn’t see that today. Which leads me to ask why do these horrible people get to nurture a young man? Why can’t my wife and I still have that responsibility?
It’s a line of thinking that brings nothing good. It is fraught with judgement and envy. Both of which will quickly eat at your core until the rage becomes uncontrollable. We had 22 great years with Brian and I am so thankful for the time we had together. The Lord had a plan for him just as he has a plan for the young boy at the beach. I have to accept that and I have to be cautious not to fall into the trap allowing my thoughts to be imprisoned by destructive vices.
While I hate the moments, I trust the end. I must take comfort in that.
Beautiful Blue Sky 