will this end well?

When I look at this picture, I think of that terrible moment that came in many games of this caliber, when a home run was hit by the star player.

Yes, that terrible moment when the ball is flying through the air, faster than a bullet, right out of the park, and right through the glass pane of old lady Crump’s greenhouse.

The glass shatters, the kids scatter, and the guilty one stands in complete shock, staring at the greenhouse with his eyes about to fall out of his head.

Then, a voice in the distance… “drat you boys! I’ll have the law on you! Your pa’s gonna tan your hide!” Little Johnny then sets a new world record for the quarter mile in his effort to remove himself from the location and later appears at the dinner table looking more than pristine in his standard of cleanliness. Dad clears his throat, lowers his glasses on his nose, and looks down at Little Johnny with what seem to be eyeballs of fire. “Please pass the potatoes Johnny.” Johnny passes the potatoes, melts into his chair in relief, goes to bed, and to school the next day. He passes his day in making paper airplanes, throwing them off of the top of the school, visiting the principal, pulling Suzy’s hair, visiting the principal, “studying hard” in art class, and making it out the door seconds after the bell rings.

After school, he and his buds decide to try their hand at another game with the spare ball. Johnny hightails it for home to grab his glove and bat, and runs right into Dad as he comes through the front door.

Dad clears his throat.
“Johnny.”
“Uh, yessir?”
“You off to play some more baseball?”
“Yessir.” (Quaking-in-his-hightop-shoes.)
“Well, don’t be batting too many more balls through Ms. Crump’s window.”

WHOA THERE DADDY!!!

So, here are the viewpoints we can take here.

ONE. Hurray for Dad! What a guy! Always watching out for his kid. He’ll take care of Johnny’s problems, and he’ll teach him to take care of his own kid’s problems, and Johnny will teach his kids to take care of their kid’s problems, and throughout the ages of time, the all the little fathers and mothers will look out for their little bambinos.

TWO. Little Johnny just lost his ability to make restitution because his Dad took the rap for his mistake. Johnny won’t learn to pay for his mistakes (even the unintended ones) because Dad is doing it for him. If Little Johnny doesn’t learn now when he his 11, how can we expect him to do what his parents did for him when his is older? He’s never seen anything but the “government” helping him out when he goes belly up.

Which view point would you take?