Only Human

Today we'll have a break in our regularly scheduled programming. Though I know I only just started Happy Thoughts, something important really hit me. I'll still post a Happy Thought, but this matters just as much. They have a bad rap. They yell a lot. Fight with each other sometimes. Give out orders. And still manage to put food on the table. As every anxsty teenager knows parents came sometimes be a bother. Not that kids make it any easier on them. But it is what it is. But while watching "House Arrest" I noticed a very poignant theme that seems to resonate throughout the movie. If you've never seen "House Arrest" with Jamie Lee Curtis and a slew of other terrific actors here it is in a nutshell. A group of high school students fed up with their parents and guardians, kidnap them and lock them in a basement to help them work out their issues. The parents then fight with one another. Between other couples. And with their kids. To discover their marriages a bit stronger. And their understanding of their children a bit deeper. A great movie. But what struck a chord with me was not the sheer humor of the movie. It was the underlying theme therein. Beneath each of the arguments and verbal altercations the married couples had was that these people are human. Parents are human. They eat and sleep and laugh and cry. Same as we do. They need attention, comfort, consolation, and security as much as the next insecure adolescent. And often kids make the choice to shut them out. Yell at them. Be unhappy with them. When truth be told, they are doing their very best to keep us happy. Same as you. And they have the unique burden of working all their days just to sustain us, while we, the children work all our time to sustain ourselves. And sometimes that pressure gets to be a lot. More than any child could ever grasp from their side of the fence, since all their doing is reaping the fruits of someone else's hard earned seeds. I've seen it sometimes bare down on them. Seen the stress behind their smile. And the weight of the world hoisted up on their shoulders. It's wonder how they aren't all mean, all the time. The fact they can even afford to smile some days is a testament to their strength of moral character. The reconciliation they made with their humanity in a situation that often require super-human solidarity. I can't imagine what they must go through. Or how they can still find time to love on one another, amid the rat-race routine of trying to keep your head above water. Wow. I don't wanna grow up. "I'm a Toys'R'Us Kid." But if I do, may God endow me with a small percentage of the otherworldly fortitude I see exhibited every day.