Looking at the Mobile Press yesterday the front cover was a plethora of headlines. They ranged from international incidents to local tragedies. Oops! was one title that showed Nick Saban holding the National Championship Trophy. Of course it was the headline for the father of the Alabama football player tripping and breaking the $30, 000 dollar trophy. An in typical Alabama fan fashion, (no offense to my bammer friends) they quickly made it about them by coining the phrase "you can't go anywhere in Tuscaloosa without tripping over a national championship trophy" They do have 750,000 you know. Football strikes big emotions in this state, and trust me most folks would consider that front page news. But it was not the one that made the most impact on me. "Father Awaits Word on Fate of Jihadist Son" was the one that i found most intriguing. In 2006 a young man from Daphne, Alabama joined the an al-Qaida linked group in Somalia. He has sense over the last couple of weeks made video footage of himself speaking English telling of the fear his own group was going to kill him. I had little remorse for him in the fact that he had put his own country in jeopardy by providing information to known terrorists, then denounces his country to become a part of al-Qaida. After reading the article, I had a little change of heart. Hearing that farther talk of the fact that he did no t know if his son was dead or alive.... made me think. I have kids and I love them immensely, don't know how I could go on if they were to face the same fate as this young man. I am sure his father would be just as devastated. My heart went out to him. I realized something right then and there kids make decisions that hurt there parents. Whether it is drinking beer before legal age and getting caught or joining a terrorist organization, parents deal with disappointment everyday. They deal with heartache that their children give them because they have the inherent skill of unconditional love. This is really an amazing thing. Husbands and wives fall out of love and friends sever heart strings forever, but parents always love their kids.....regardless. A man told me when they are young they step on your toes, and when they are old they step on your heart, but after each time you would let them do it again. So true. The decision that this young man made that might have cost him his life is definitely his own, but he is still someone's son and for that...... I pray he gets to see his dad again.
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