Son gets caught up in a university campus drug bust; son is apprehended by local authorities, along with other students; son’s parents are notified of alarming news; and so on, and so forth. This storyline is right out 
of my book, The Top Ten Laws of Respect at Home – A Family Guide. It is contained in the short story titled, “A Day to Remember,” featured in chapter 10. The chapter focuses on the tenth law (of The Top Ten Laws of Respect at Home).
However, this foregoing storyline is real. It describes partly the recent drug bust at the Columbia University (New York) campus. On December 7 (2010), five students from the Ivy League institution were arrested by local authorities in a drug sting operation. The students, four 20-year olds and a 22-year old, are accused of allegedly selling illegal drugs—cocaine, LSD, marijuana, ecstasy, and more—on campus. Unlike the happy ending in the story in my book, this one may prove to be unhappy for each of these young adults.
My interest in this Columbia drug bust does not lie in the misfortune of these foolish young men, but rather in the actions of the father of one of them. While four of the accused students were promptly bailed out of jail by their parents (supposedly), the father of the fifth—Mr. Dave David—elected to leave his son, Harrison David, behind bars for about two weeks before taking steps to post the $75,000 bail. According to the son, his father had told him while growing up that if he ever got into trouble, he would not come to his aid. It appears that Mr. David meant his words.
My question to parents out there is this: could you take the same tough stance that Mr. David chose? Could you leave your 20-year old son in jail for several days, if you had the means to bail him out promptly? Could you love your son enough to turn your back momentarily at a time when he needed you the most?
Mr. David clearly loves his son and, yes, he certainly respects him—which is to say that he truly values his son. He proved this by giving his son the best Christmas gift he (the son) could have received—out of jail a few days before Christmas. For young Harrison, Christmas 2010 will certainly be a day to remember!
