Word: dad
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Were he alive today, the Buddha would be in jail for child-support violations. Two-and-a-half millenniums of adoration and mythology have obscured the unflattering fact that the Buddha was a deadbeat dad. So a shimmering new English translation of the Buddhacarita, the 2nd century Sanskrit poem chronicling his life, reminds us that in his search for enlightenment and release from samsara - the wheel of rebirths that condemns us to endless lives and thus suffering - he cruelly abandoned his wife and young son Rahula (whose name, making a not-so-subtle point, means "fetters...
...that you would guess that from his dandyish youth, which is a period of panting indulgence doing whatever he pleases and to whomever. Dad Suddhodana, who would rather Siddhartha become an earthly king, manufactures this hedonism, hoping to shield his son from the world's anguish and thereby stanch any desire of Siddhartha to redeem it. A pleasure dome he decrees, turning the top floor of his palace into a lurid seraglio and confining Siddhartha there, "ensnared by women skilled in erotic arts/ who were tireless in providing sexual delights." The teenage St. Augustine would have been jealous...
...clients, began focusing on managing money for women two years ago when a Saudi princess asked the firm to organize some investment workshops. Managing director Bell says he found "a lot of anger and frustration" among the workshop participants. "They'd say, 'I inherited this money from my dad, and it's just sitting there. We're not given the ability to make proper investments, to control our own money, or to run our own businesses.' They had lots of money, but no one to give them advice, except relatives. And your father or brother might be honest...
...that viewers should have trouble pegging the characters. There's Megan, the prom queen, top scholar, clique leader and occasional megabitch--a real Heather from Heathers--but with a family tragedy the movie reveals only near the end. Colin is the basketball star, who's under pressure from his dad, an Elvis impersonator (could you make this stuff up?), to win a college scholarship. "Otherwise," Dad warns, "it's the Army." Jake is the loner. He'll be handsome once he grows out of his braces and that awful acne, but for now he's content to muse...
...will tell you I was reminded--I think this is an important reminder because you forget on the campaign trail sometimes--just how high troop morale remains despite the difficulties. I spend a lot of time talking to families who are trying to work through their mom or dad being gone for the third time, and it creates a huge burden on them at home. But when the troops are in the field, they are energized, and they are working hard, and they believe in the small slice of work that's been given. And that, I think, at least...