Jeff,
I'd invite you to re-read the story. I think you've filtered the story from your vantage point - we all do, but I think you've missed or mis-interpreted Zack's behaviour.
Note: Kevin may or may not see your post for awhile - he's off to school for three weeks. He doesn't have ready access to web where he is, unless there's a restaurant/coffee house that has wifi - and he doesn't drink coffee! He just left today. We'll all have to wait and see. I told him Vacation was over - time to get back to work and post another chapter or three - his fans are hungry! If you've read his asides, you know he's gone through Hell this past year. Things are looking up, and he's looked forward to this school with excitement for several weeks, now.
Zack could be seen as your perennial Eagle Scout, or whatever the equivalent rank in Lord Mountbatten's UK Boy Scouts is -- Be Prepared. (Aside from the fact that they have an anti-gay policy.)
Zack's formative years were with loving parents who didn't always have a lot of money - certainly none to spare. He learned responsibility the old fashioned way. That doesn't mean he didn't have a childhood, but he had one perhaps more like mine (I'm 52) than a current 20 year old's. Much like my grandparents, who lived through the Great Depression, they were frugal with their money once they found their pot of gold at the end of their rainbow. They rewarded Zack with good, solid, positive reinforcement. They have used their money lovingly and wisely, not always just doling it out "just because."
He was taught the benefits of working hard -- and he applied himself. Compound that with his self-realization that he was gay, and getting beat up early on, giving him incentive to learn martial arts - which reinforces discipline and "right thinking".
Then, his best friend from the time he was a baby, and his lover, outs himself and can't deal with the consequences - and Zack had to cope with that. All of which he's done admirably - not without personal moments of crying - that's normal.
He's applied himself and reaped the benefits - his artwork sales while in High School netted him enough money to buy a fully outfitted Mach Mustang -- any semi-normal teenage American Boy's wet dream of a car. It was certainly mine. Trans AM was nice, 'Vette was too, but FORD Mustang Cobra (Carl Shelby edition) was the top of the line when I was 18. Mach 5.0liter is today's commercial king hot rod. I'd imagine Astin Martin (with a MUCH higher $$, or perhaps a BMW 3-series would be similar in UK). But, America has had a long love affair with our automobiles -- moreso than most of Europe, I think.
He has his head squarely on his shoulders. No, he doesn't drink -- his martial arts training and his parents have taught him responsible behaviour. He doesn't party - as I mentioned to Sooner86 in an earlier post, my son and his friends, while they have enjoyed a visit or three to the local Irish Pub to tip back a pint, didn't until they were 21. Zack is 20. He's respected the law - good for him. Drinking in Europe comes at a younger age, and has different mores associated with it. We Americans are perhaps still too parochial in our thinking, but 18 was the drinking age when I was younger, I went bar hopping at 17 and got away with it. My son is much further ahead and has his head on his shoulders more squarely than I ever did at that age.
As for Shawn - Zack is a light sleeper, Jay sleeps like a ton of bricks. That has been pointed out several times. So Zack, rather than waking Jay, prolonging the amount of time till Shawn gets taken care of, lovingly does what needs doing. Jay has been a bit slow in taking care of Shawn, and a bit short with him. Zack has mentioned it to Jay, and encouraged him to take a more active role in his nephew/son's care.
That may go back to the difference in their upbringing, and where they were mentally. We know Zack's story. Jay was a jock -- he was a late child to his parents, so he likely was a bit spoiled -- the older kids typically wear down the ardent "no" response of parents. As we get older, we give in more easily. While he did do well academically, as per his partial ride scholarship, he still didn't have the more frugal upbringing of Zack. His parents had more. Personally, I've also wondered if maybe part of Jay being short with Shawn was a little bit of repressed anger at his brother for dying on him and leaving him with this great responsibility -- but that's just my conjecture. I'm not the author, so I'm not the expert.
Finally, Zack is a sensitive young man. One of the things he dreamed of having, but never figured he would, was children of his own. As a parent of three (Kevin is the father of four, by the way) I know all too well the enormous, absolute, unconditional love a parent feels for their children (otherwise, we might be like some other species and Eat our young when they give us a hard time!). Zack got to know this lovable child over Christmas break, then came to love him as his own after the accident.
As for the phone. Jay, again, is not as serious/prepared/mature as Zack. You're right in that respect. Jay takes after his mom re: keeping the cell phone charged. Remember what Zack has gone through, first as a kid, then at Harvard - his roommate beat his GF, some Jocks pounded on a gay student just down the hall from Zack. He has sound experience to want to be careful. Plus, they have the responsibility of a child. You Can't be absent minded when you have a child to take care of.
None of this means that Zack is near the deep end. I think you've misconstrued. Yes, it would be great if he could be afforded the luxury of being able to "lighten up". If Jay accepts a bit more responsibility, perhaps he could. But in reality, as a parent, I can tell you, no, he can't. It just isn't in the mix. They take kids away from parents who are less responsible.
There is an expression "It's not what you say, it's how you say it." There's a lot of truth to that. It's also even more telling of the recipient's mindset to see how they received/interpret something. Perhaps you are more stressed than you realize? OR, maybe like Sooner86, your life experiences make it hard for you to accept that an 18-20 year old could really be that mature and handle it with applomb.
They are a rare breed, but they do exist. Particularly when they are being written by someone of an older generation than the person portrayed. The more conservative style of upbringing they experienced plays out in their characters.
Please try to be more open to Kevin's representation of these boys. They are a bit too perfect, but this is also fiction, so it's permissible. They aren't completely perfect, though, or we'd all have tuned out months ago. I find myself rooting for the kids, wanting to step in and help when I can -- even though they do seem to fall into it (good fortune) a lot.
Thanks,
Don Quixote -- with my own Impossible Dreams, n,est c,est pas?
I'd invite you to re-read the story. I think you've filtered the story from your vantage point - we all do, but I think you've missed or mis-interpreted Zack's behaviour.
Note: Kevin may or may not see your post for awhile - he's off to school for three weeks. He doesn't have ready access to web where he is, unless there's a restaurant/coffee house that has wifi - and he doesn't drink coffee! He just left today. We'll all have to wait and see. I told him Vacation was over - time to get back to work and post another chapter or three - his fans are hungry! If you've read his asides, you know he's gone through Hell this past year. Things are looking up, and he's looked forward to this school with excitement for several weeks, now.
Zack could be seen as your perennial Eagle Scout, or whatever the equivalent rank in Lord Mountbatten's UK Boy Scouts is -- Be Prepared. (Aside from the fact that they have an anti-gay policy.)
Zack's formative years were with loving parents who didn't always have a lot of money - certainly none to spare. He learned responsibility the old fashioned way. That doesn't mean he didn't have a childhood, but he had one perhaps more like mine (I'm 52) than a current 20 year old's. Much like my grandparents, who lived through the Great Depression, they were frugal with their money once they found their pot of gold at the end of their rainbow. They rewarded Zack with good, solid, positive reinforcement. They have used their money lovingly and wisely, not always just doling it out "just because."
He was taught the benefits of working hard -- and he applied himself. Compound that with his self-realization that he was gay, and getting beat up early on, giving him incentive to learn martial arts - which reinforces discipline and "right thinking".
Then, his best friend from the time he was a baby, and his lover, outs himself and can't deal with the consequences - and Zack had to cope with that. All of which he's done admirably - not without personal moments of crying - that's normal.
He's applied himself and reaped the benefits - his artwork sales while in High School netted him enough money to buy a fully outfitted Mach Mustang -- any semi-normal teenage American Boy's wet dream of a car. It was certainly mine. Trans AM was nice, 'Vette was too, but FORD Mustang Cobra (Carl Shelby edition) was the top of the line when I was 18. Mach 5.0liter is today's commercial king hot rod. I'd imagine Astin Martin (with a MUCH higher $$, or perhaps a BMW 3-series would be similar in UK). But, America has had a long love affair with our automobiles -- moreso than most of Europe, I think.
He has his head squarely on his shoulders. No, he doesn't drink -- his martial arts training and his parents have taught him responsible behaviour. He doesn't party - as I mentioned to Sooner86 in an earlier post, my son and his friends, while they have enjoyed a visit or three to the local Irish Pub to tip back a pint, didn't until they were 21. Zack is 20. He's respected the law - good for him. Drinking in Europe comes at a younger age, and has different mores associated with it. We Americans are perhaps still too parochial in our thinking, but 18 was the drinking age when I was younger, I went bar hopping at 17 and got away with it. My son is much further ahead and has his head on his shoulders more squarely than I ever did at that age.
As for Shawn - Zack is a light sleeper, Jay sleeps like a ton of bricks. That has been pointed out several times. So Zack, rather than waking Jay, prolonging the amount of time till Shawn gets taken care of, lovingly does what needs doing. Jay has been a bit slow in taking care of Shawn, and a bit short with him. Zack has mentioned it to Jay, and encouraged him to take a more active role in his nephew/son's care.
That may go back to the difference in their upbringing, and where they were mentally. We know Zack's story. Jay was a jock -- he was a late child to his parents, so he likely was a bit spoiled -- the older kids typically wear down the ardent "no" response of parents. As we get older, we give in more easily. While he did do well academically, as per his partial ride scholarship, he still didn't have the more frugal upbringing of Zack. His parents had more. Personally, I've also wondered if maybe part of Jay being short with Shawn was a little bit of repressed anger at his brother for dying on him and leaving him with this great responsibility -- but that's just my conjecture. I'm not the author, so I'm not the expert.
Finally, Zack is a sensitive young man. One of the things he dreamed of having, but never figured he would, was children of his own. As a parent of three (Kevin is the father of four, by the way) I know all too well the enormous, absolute, unconditional love a parent feels for their children (otherwise, we might be like some other species and Eat our young when they give us a hard time!). Zack got to know this lovable child over Christmas break, then came to love him as his own after the accident.
As for the phone. Jay, again, is not as serious/prepared/mature as Zack. You're right in that respect. Jay takes after his mom re: keeping the cell phone charged. Remember what Zack has gone through, first as a kid, then at Harvard - his roommate beat his GF, some Jocks pounded on a gay student just down the hall from Zack. He has sound experience to want to be careful. Plus, they have the responsibility of a child. You Can't be absent minded when you have a child to take care of.
None of this means that Zack is near the deep end. I think you've misconstrued. Yes, it would be great if he could be afforded the luxury of being able to "lighten up". If Jay accepts a bit more responsibility, perhaps he could. But in reality, as a parent, I can tell you, no, he can't. It just isn't in the mix. They take kids away from parents who are less responsible.
There is an expression "It's not what you say, it's how you say it." There's a lot of truth to that. It's also even more telling of the recipient's mindset to see how they received/interpret something. Perhaps you are more stressed than you realize? OR, maybe like Sooner86, your life experiences make it hard for you to accept that an 18-20 year old could really be that mature and handle it with applomb.
They are a rare breed, but they do exist. Particularly when they are being written by someone of an older generation than the person portrayed. The more conservative style of upbringing they experienced plays out in their characters.
Please try to be more open to Kevin's representation of these boys. They are a bit too perfect, but this is also fiction, so it's permissible. They aren't completely perfect, though, or we'd all have tuned out months ago. I find myself rooting for the kids, wanting to step in and help when I can -- even though they do seem to fall into it (good fortune) a lot.
Thanks,
Don Quixote -- with my own Impossible Dreams, n,est c,est pas?
