Slowly We Adjust, But Only

The Average Parent May, For Example, Plant An Artist Or Fertilize A Ballet Dancer And End Up With A Certified Public Accountant. We Cannot Train Children Along Chicken Wire To Make Them Grow In The Right Direction. Tying Them To Stakes Is Frowned Upon, Even In Massachusetts.

What Advertisers Call Brand Loyalty Is Merely The Consumer's Defense Against The Need To Waste Energy Differentiating Among Things That Barely Differ.

Parents Remain Our Touchstones, Fellow Travelers, Even After Death. They Are Both Missing And Present.

How Many Of The People I Know - Sons And Daughters - Have Intricate Abstract Expressionist Paintings Of Their Mothers, Created Out Of Their Own Emotions, Attitudes, Hands. And How Many Have Only Polaroid Pictures Of Their Fathers.

We Each Have A Litany Of Holiday Rituals And Everyday Habits That We Hold On To, And We Often Greet Radical Innovation With The Enthusiasm Of A Baby Meeting A New Sitter. We Defend Against It And - Not Always, But Often Enough - Reject It. Slowly We Adjust, But Only If We Have To.