Posted on 09/07/2008 3:19:35 AM PDT by nickcarraway
THE mum of the teenage “redneck” who got US Vice-Presidential candidate Sarah Palin’s daughter pregnant insisted last night: “My Levi’s a good boy. I know he’ll make Sarah proud.”
Sherry Johnston was speaking after it was revealed this week that Palin’s daughter Bristol, 17, is five months pregnant by Levi—who described himself on his website as a “f***ing redneck” who didn’t want kids.
Speaking from her wooden cabin home in the tiny Alaskan town of Wasilla, Sherry defended Levi, 18, saying: “He might have been a bit of a handful when he was younger but he’s now grown up into a caring, mature young man who wants to look after his new family.”
Levi and Bristol are now engaged —and the young oil rig electrician appeared clutching her hand as they shared the limelight with the Palins and Presidential candidate John McCain at the Republican convention.
Sherry added: “Levi has barely ever been out of Wasilla and there he was on TV screens aired all around the world.
“He called me afterwards and said it was the most incredible but frightening experience he had ever had.”
That’s what I thought too!! He is like her father if you ask me. At least it appears that way.
Various articles describe him as both a high school senior and an oil rig electrician. There's no reason, of course, he can't be both. But I don't know details about his job -- was it a summer job? Is it a career-path position? Does he plan to attend college? The article doesn't address any of those.
Sorry, but I have to disagree on that. Of course, a stable and loving marriage is the best scenario for everyone involved. But if the marriage fails, or the mother doesn't want to get married at all, a father still has a critical role in raising a child. Too many fathers -- leaving aside the ones who flee from any responsibility at all -- figure that divorcing the mother means divorcing the children, and it is the children who suffer.
The main point I was getting at is that for both Bristol and Levi, their priority order must be: Child, spouse, self. That demotion from 1st to 3rd is a lot for a teenager to deal with.
Hah, my grandmother (also Depression era) used to say the same thing! She used to laugh at the number of 8 lb ‘preemies’ born to young couples.
I heard a fellow put it this way (speaking to fathers): “The best thing you can do for your children is to love your wife.”
If we don’t know by now how destructive divorce is to children, we’re in willful denial. Divorcing one’s wife makes the children suffer, period. Weekend visitation doesn’t repair that damage - no more than child support does.
If you won’t love your wife and keep your marriage together, your children are going to suffer. You can’t be a good father when your children live elsewhere. You can’t be a good father when your children see you fighting with their mother day after day.
That’s what I meant. You can’t pick one and reject the other.
I certainly do agree with you that it’s a big adjustment from self-centered “adolescence” (a modern concept concocted to prolong childhood and defer adulthood) to self-sacrificing husband and father. But it’s not something beyond our capacity to do. Young men have been doing it for thousands of years, and we can learn to do it again.
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