OUR LIVES ARE INEXTRICABLY BOUND TOGETHER
In the last chapter of Joy Gage’s book she recounts some letters parents have written to their erring children. They are powerful and poignant letters. So often the rebellious child insists his decisions don’t hurt anyone else, but of course they do affect the whole family. One father wrote to his son who was in prison about the painful impact his crime had made on his brothers. In his letter he quotes an old Jewish story: It seems there were several men out in a rowboat. One man, losing his thought, was carving away with his knife on the bottom of the boat. Suddenly one of the other men looked up and cried, “Stop that! You’re cutting a hole in the bottom of the boat.” And the fellow with the knife replied, “Leave me alone. I’m cutting this hole under my own seat.” Indeed, we are our brother’s keeper.
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