Raising Teenagers

When I was a youth minister, I noticed a sort of melancholy that seemed to cling to the parents of teenagers. I never really understood it but, now I think I do. As a parent, you put up with the poop, the pee, the whining, the tears, the snot. You teach a child to use the toilet, tie the shoe laces, count, identify colors, read and do their homework. And about the time they develop a personality you want to be around, they want nothing to do with you.

John McCain

John McCain’s speech this evening before the Republican National Convention was a blessed change from the rhetoric of the previous evening and previous convention. He was vulnerable in ways that I didn’t imagine any politician could be. He was sincere. And at least for the evening, he was convincing.