Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow-Bye Bye Bessie

        Parting is such sweet sorrow…and I know this to be true.  Today, I lost Bessie.  We weren’t together long enough.  I had only known her for about 5-6 years.  Long enough to appreciate her…long enough to know all of her faults and her good features.  We were pretty much inseperable for most of this last year and a half.  I am grieving the loss of her. 

           Oh to be sure, Bessie could be tempermental…but, hey so can I when the mood strikes.   We were only apart for a couple of weeks last year due to a very strong virus.  It almost took Bessie from me this past summer.  We were lucky…she was able to bounce back.  I grieved the loss of her then too…but, i was lucky and got to have a little more time with her.  I don’t think I will be so lucky this time.

           After I posted to my blog early this morning…Bessie made a most unlady-like , violent popping sound and then she was gone…without any warning…no goodbye…see ya later.  Nothing!  She was  most silent; not as in a temporary silent treatment either.  One moment she was there, vibrant and alive…the next minute…my beloved computer was no longer with me.  I was left alone with my thoughts.

            Last time…the computer doc was able to rescitate her and bring her back to her full glory.  This sound that she made, sounded most ominous.  I don’t know if she has any more life left in her.  She will take so many pieces of me with her if she is truly gone.   The writings, the pictures, the look and the feel of her keyboard..Oh Lord, the files; this could be very traumatic.   Ahhhh….I am most blue.

              I am sending these greetings to you via my husband’s lap-top.  I don’t like driving another person’s vehicle and i most definately don’t like writing on another person’s computer.  If only i was independently wealthy….then, i would deck myself out with the top of the line…super streamlined…computer that would hum beneath my fingers and spill out all that I hold dear, to you my friends and readers. 

           Still, until there is no hope of breathing new life into Bessie…i will have to do the best that i can to communicate on this laptop.  It will be quite some time before i can afford to break in a new computer who will work with me and not mind my lack of technical skills.  If you don’t mind…send a few prayers Bessie’s way.  She could use a little help from above,  just like most of us!!!

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Choking on the Silver Spoons

        Choking on the silver spoon is the title i chose for this post after hearing for years about children born to weathy parents who continue to struggle in their lives. 

         While those who are living in the category of a “have not” existence often wonder how different life would be if they were included in the exclusive membership of those who  “have (and, have “it” in a big way)”.   I am talking about wealth, privilege, and status beyond the average person’s ability to achieve.

        How often do we hear stories of children who have been born to the ultra rich who seem to appear out of control; in legal trouble, lonely, but on a continual rotation of personal relationships, lost in addictions, at a loss for a professional direction of their own, suspended from one educational academy after another or just unmotivated to do something positive in the world?

         Have you ever heard of the “poor little rich (boy or girl)” phrase?  A few years ago, there was a big media flap over the friction in the family of Tori Spelling when her father died.  Many of the issues were there before her father died but much of it was complicated by money issues after he passed away.

           It seems that Tori has now written a  book talking about the idea of being raised in a family of privilege and continuing to live that way without the advantage of having the finances to back it up, once she became an adult out on her own. It supposedly talks about her struggles and what she has learned; and, how she is applying that knowledge in her marriage and in parenting her own young family.

            Then, i remember many years ago a woman by the name of Christina Onassis who lived a colorful and lonely life.  She went through four marriages.  She lost all of her family members in a 24 month period.  She was lonely.  She was starved for a connected, affectionate relationship…yet she had tons of money.  She gave birth to one child, Athina.  Who, upon Christina’s death, became one of the richest children in the world.  We don’t hear much about her these days.  She has tried to stay out of the limelight.  A few years ago there was some publicity about a romance she had with an older man; there was speculation about that relationship.  She later married him. 

         You have to wonder what kind of pressure is put upon a child who is born to that kind of wealth to live a successful, healthy, and an emotionally fulfilling life.  How do they grow and mature, while at the same time develop the ability to discover who is in their lives for the right reasons?  How do they know if they are adored because of who they really are or because of what they “have”?

         How does a child live up to expectations of their family members and the public when they have to live in the shadow of a well-known parent who is enormously blessed financially?  How do they carve out a path of their own?  It surely must not be easy.

         I think about people like Christian Brando the son of the famous (and rich) Marlon Brando.  He alledgedly lived a life surrounded by privilege and neglect and turmoil.  He at times was accused of murder, spousal abuse, patternity claims, and drug and alcohol abuse.  He struggled in all areas; only to have gotten to a point where others claim he was making serious attempts to straighten out his life.  He died a short time ago before he was able to realize his full potential.

          Then this week, word comes down that little Danilyn Smith the 18month old daughter of Anna Nicole Smith and Larry Birkhead is the sole legal heir of Anna’s present and (future depending on the outcome of legal proceedings from Anna’s previous marriage to billionaire J. Howard Marshall) fortune.  Having money, alone, doesn’t guarantee happiness.

           Some of the present fortune has been put in trust and Danilyn’s father and Howard K. Stern (Anna’s lawyer and lover) have been put in charge of administering that trust fund.  As she grows into a teenager and into a young adult this judgement of being a sole heir of possible millions of dollars will help to shape and form what kind of a life she will have. 

             It makes a person wonder whether the silver spoon will be a blessing or a curse in her life.  It would be a wonderful thing if those who raise her will also influence her personal growth to be strenthened by good character, good decision making and have a strong sense of boundaries that are guided by common sense.  Maybe, just maybe this young person can grow up in a relatively normal environment and turn the silver spoon into something from which good things can grow. 

        

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