A teenage girl having coffee with her friend last night argued that her father's recent decision to get braces to correct his teeth was ridiculous. She argued that any benefit in terms of his appearance once he had fixed his teeth was sure to be offset by the fact that until then he would be an old man with braces (apparently he'd opted for 'invisible braces', but the young woman felt they failed to live up to that description). Further, she said that the whole thing seemed like a total waste of money. Her father had a wife to whom he'd been married for 20 years, a job as a transportation engineer that he was likely to keep until he retired, and two kids. How he thought having straight teeth would improve his life was a mystery to her. She suggested that they'd all be better off if the money were spent on something that was at least useful, like a boat or a flat screen TV.
Her friend said she completely understood where the young woman was coming from. She said her own father sometimes tried to shop for clothes in 'hip' stores and had recently asked her what she thought of a new pair of sneakers he'd purchased.
I wanted to tell him, what's the point, she said, you're 50 something years old, it's not like anyone is looking at you anyway.
Monday, May 02, 2005
Teen Feels Father's Decision To Get Braces Is Pointless
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Sometimes I think we oldies should just use up the entire resources of the world so that we don't have anything to pass on to the young. They just don't deserve it...
After leaving the petulant child to her funk, I'd head straight to the dentist and ask for braces that either glow in the dark, intermittently light up in gaudy neon colors, or opt for a set that plays repetitive stanzas of Beethoven, just to be cool, Leo.
Bravo Leo and Gone Away, The kid has to learn that adults have lives outside of being a parent and that sometimes one has to do something for themselves for their own benifit. If I was that dad I would get a t-shirt that says "the tin grin is in" and wear it load and proud.
Post a Comment