Quite a column

agree with all the stuff above.

and i would not be the guy hoping for another thug to give my son a big hug in prison.

 

Me too. Something unspecific just came up.

 

This column is a hack job.

If you are going to get into it -- incarceration and all --- get into it all the way.

What does he want, me to feel sorry for people who have 'made a mistake'

A mistake is spelling a word wrong or turning on red when you don't see the 'no turn on red' sign....peddling dope and killing someone aren't fucking mistakes.

 

If I were going to all the trouble of writing a column about this situation, I'd have lead with why my son was in jail. And it was left out. Hmm...

 

So this once-a-year day is so special for families of the prisoners that the guy went there and spent part of it with someone other than his son? Anybody else have a picture of this columnist scribbling notes while his son waits with his thumb up his ass?

 

It was somewhat close to being "quite a column." I read it before this thread took off. Those are some - what's the word? - gaps.

 

I don't agree with the criticism above. For me, the column would not be substantially different if the prisoners were convicted murderers, carjackers or jaywalkers. It's about the fathers' feelings of separation, and in that context whatever moral judgments there are to be made about the son and the convicted father are not relevant to me.

 

If he had avoided the subject altogether, fine. But he paints the convict as a good guy and loving father and says he made some "mistakes." As a reader, that just made me want to know why he was in prison.

 

I still think the crime of both father and son are relevant to me, but even more relevant is the feelings of the son who is on the outside. As I said before, all we had was the convict dad's word that his son was gonna be there, then some awkward hug between the writer and this kid. I think this child's feelings about his father are far more relevant. Sure, the dad whose son is in jail I feel bad for. But if the dad on the inside did some stuff that was bad and his kid feels like his dad screwed up and abandoned him, then that matters. I just can't feel sorry for someone whose kid doesn't even feel that way.

 

Believe it or not, there are people in jail who are there because they did stupid things. They aren't necessarily bad people, they made the mistake of youth, not fully understanding the consequences of their actions. (And don't even begin to debate this because I also fully understand that there are plenty of people in prison who are bad people and deserve to be there).

Who among us can say they never did something stupid that might have resulted in punishment. Did you drive while under the influence? Pick a fight that could have escalated? Played a prank that got out of hand?

The reason the two guys are in prison was not necessarily important. The story was about a columnist who missed his imprisoned son and how he related his loneliness with somebody else in the same situation. Sure it could have been better, but I thought it was a nice story.

 

If it were one of those things, it would only make the column stronger. But yes, it matters if somebody is in there for a capital offense.

 

As an editor, I would have wanted the reason the guy was in prison just because I would rather be specific than general. It it's drugs or armed robbery and the guy is contrite about his mistake, include it.

As a reader, it made me feel like he was sugar coating the guy's situation because of his son.