The Tragedy of Owen Baylor - Part I

Owen Baylor was thirteen when he made a pact with himself that he would not be like his father. This may have seemed to be a strange declaration for a young boy, particularly since Owen's father, Jack, was himself a very successful man.

In fact Jack Baylor was, at the time, a senior vice-president of a major oil company. He would soon move on to the chief position in a little over a year's time. Jack Baylor had worked his way up the chain of command the hard way, he had began on the rigs and climbed from there. He was a good worker. He was also a good provider and a good family man. Yes, he worked too much and often too late, but he was also sure to make time to spend with wife and his young son. He would never be considered by anyone's estimation a bad father or a bad husband.

Owen's declaration was not a personal attack on his father. It was quite the opposite. Though it may seem difficult to believe of a boy of thirteen, Owen had developed an ideological difference with his father's occupation. In not very much time at all, this difference developed into a disgust for what his father did and resulted in his vehement declaration.

What brought about this turn of events originated in a local newspaper, in a simple column that had been picked by from the list of associated press clippings, likely as an after-thought, chosen as much for its length as for its content.

Owen had just happened to be reading the paper that afternoon, bored as he was of the summer sun, and still too early to watch the evening ball game. He was astonished by what he read, and it literally turned his world upsidedown. The article expressed a point of view that Owen had never considered.

Upon reading the article, Owen went straight to his father and asked for his opinion, hoping that the matter could be quickly settled and the article rebutted. Such was not the case. Owen's father did his best to explain away the concerns, but it quickly became clear to Owen that his father was really not addressing any of the issues that the article brought to light, and that the older man was actually becoming quite uncomfortable as he was forced to discuss the in more depth. Owen left the scene in a fury.

But his anger soon turned into something rather closer to resignation, for as he made other attempts to discuss the matter with his father, it became obvious that his father was not using deceptive techniques in an attempt to purposely deceive Owen, but was using them because he was quite in denial himself.

To Owen, who had always held his father in the greatest esteem, this was a terrible realization. It also reinforced the arguments of the article, which, in the absence of his father's direction, Owen now turned to for guidance.

The first act of his new found obedience was to make his declaration.

- posted by Sigurd7/01/2004 10:30:00 PM