Jon Stanhope, the head of the Australian Capital Territory (and a Labor Party leader) has nominated Australian Terry Hicks for "Father of the Year." Terry is the father of David Hicks, who was arrested in 2001 while fighting for the Taliban (against coalition forces including Australia).
THE father of terrorist suspect David Hicks has been nominated as Australian father of the year by ACT [Australian Capital Territory] chief minister Jon Stanhope.
Mr Stanhope compared Terry Hicks to Steve Waugh, Prime Minister John Howard and former leader Billy McMahon — all former fathers of the year.
The chief minister said Mr Hicks had stuck by his son, advocated justice and did it with grace — all qualities of a good dad.
"But the anguish of that news must have been nothing compared to the relentless pain and uncertainty that Terry Hicks has experienced every day since, as he tries, from afar, to support his son," Mr Stanhope said.
"That Terry Hicks has continued to behave during this terrible time with such public stoicism and courtesy and strength is a lesson to all."
I can understand considerable sympathy for the Terry (it must be painful to raise a son who would take up arms against his own country), but giving the father an award for parenting seems an odd suggestion.
Tip to Tim Blair, who dryly observes: "Well deserved, too. After all, he did such a fine job of raising the boy."
Furthermore, I'll ask, what if it were the mother doing the same? Would you criticize a mother for standing by her child in any and all cases?
Lastly, Tim Blair deserves a rap on the knuckles for his knuckle-headed comment, "Well deserved, too. After all, he did such a fine job of raising the boy." Parents should not be blamed for the shortcomings of their children. My aunt's son got drunk, pawed a pretty girl, and shot her boyfriend. He's now in jail. My aunt was shattered by the episode, but she stood by her son throughout, even though she makes no defense of his actions. She is a good woman who raised her children carefully. All came out well save for this one son. Numerous studies have shown that, very roughly speaking, the objectively measurable behavior traits of a person are due to genetics, parental nurture, and childhood friends, in the percentages 25%, 25%, and 50%, respectively. THESE ARE GROSSLY APPROXIMATE NUMBERS!!! But they give an idea of what determines a person's character.
I wasn't criticizing the father--for precisely one of your reasons. Even good parents can raise kids who go bad. And we all fail at some things, despite our best efforts.
A good baseball manager can nonetheless have a team that comes in last place--because of injuries, bad luck, bad upper management. The good manager might stoicly stand by his team, and be quite honorable, but you don't nominate him for the nation's "manager of the year" award.
Likewise, you shouldn't nominate people who failed in a major way as a parent for national awards for good parenting, even if they tried to do the right thing.