If you read the sports section of your daily paper, you no doubt noticed the story of the pathetic journey of Floyd Patterson from Chicago to New York following his defeat at the hands of Sonny Liston. Patterson drove through the night alone and wore a full beard and moustache so he would not be recognized. He was a completely despondent, beaten man. Anyone who has followed the career of the former champ knows that his managers never let him come up against any real trouble in the ring. If a worthy contender came along, the managers dodged and side-stepped to keep their boy away from danger. They made their deals with the pushovers and the softies. Did they do the likeable Patterson a favour? I think not. Yet, do not many of us do the same thing for our children day in and day out. We try to fight their battles for them, to run interference, to protect them against hurt, yes even keep them from the knowledge that they CAN get hurt in this old world. Many children today reach adulthood without once going to battle for themselves. Then when the first big trouble hits them, and they find out that father is no longer there to fix it, they go down with the first blow. We want to give our children some protection certainly, I submit that we do them a great service by letting them stand on their own 2 feet at as tender an age as possible. It's not always a nice old world and I believe children should learn that very young.
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