wisdom
"how terrible a thing is wisdom when it brings no profit to the wise"
This American Life was on this morning. One of the segments was about a man
named Lennard Davis who years after his parents died, found a strand of tissue
that a hospital had stored from some sample his father had given and used it to
perform a paternity test. When it turned out that the man whom he called his
father, really wasn't his biological father, Lennard said he felt abandoned, like he never had a father at all.
I understand the need people have to know. But this man made it sound as
if this DNA test erased his father and replaced him with a stranger. What I
couldn't help thinking was that to be a father, you have to be more than just a
sperm donor. You have to take an active part in a child's life. Whoever,
Lennard's biological sperm donor was (the show doesn't reveal it) does not
suddenly erase the years the man who took on the role of his father vested in
their family.
This American Life was on this morning. One of the segments was about a man
named Lennard Davis who years after his parents died, found a strand of tissue
that a hospital had stored from some sample his father had given and used it to
perform a paternity test. When it turned out that the man whom he called his
father, really wasn't his biological father, Lennard said he felt abandoned, like he never had a father at all.
I understand the need people have to know. But this man made it sound as
if this DNA test erased his father and replaced him with a stranger. What I
couldn't help thinking was that to be a father, you have to be more than just a
sperm donor. You have to take an active part in a child's life. Whoever,
Lennard's biological sperm donor was (the show doesn't reveal it) does not
suddenly erase the years the man who took on the role of his father vested in
their family.