With all the focus on a certain royal baby this week, I’d like to brings things back to a reasonable level of sanity. This royal obsession strikes me as especially obscene. Wait. Maybe I should first write a disclaimer...My beef isn’t with the parents or the newborn, but with our constant hunt for the next Big Thing to obsess over. I won’t even blame the media because we’re well past the point of needing to be spoon fed; we've learned to forage on our own for the next juicy plum we can sink our pathetic teeth into.
The birth of any baby is a reason for family and friends to celebrate. But by the public with this insane ferocity? I’ve seen otherwise mature, intelligent people melt into blubbering heaps over a baby whose parents they don’t know and never will. Let’s bring things back to earth, shall we?
Many thousands of babies were born on July 22nd. Some wanted and some unwanted. Some healthy and some ill. Some with health insurance and some on welfare. Some with plenty to eat and some who will die of hunger within the year. Each deserves their try at life and each deserves to be loved and cared for. I’d like to introduce you to who I think is a truly newsworthy baby and his equally newsworthy wonderful parents. This is Kyle and Jacey, and baby Emerson.
When I received a private message from a mutual friend that Kyle and Jacey, who were married last year, were going to unexpectedly have a baby in a week’s time and needed baby supplies, I was surprised. I’d seen her only a couple of months before and she showed no signs of being pregnant. Knowing, too, that Jacey never wanted children (she and Kyle bought an old farm house and have a lot of animals—cats, a dog, and chickens—all of which they took into the storm cellar with them during the killer tornado last spring), I was even more stymied.
It turns out Emerson is Jacey’s nephew. I don’t know the situation with his birth mother and it's not my business, besides. All I know is that this young, newlywed couple decided to take a newborn into their life, to give him a warm and loving home, and be his parents despite the financial challenge it will no doubt pose, and despite the fact that children were never in their plans. When the emergency call was made, friends leapt into action to help.
I can guarantee you, Emerson didn’t get a $15,000 bracelet that doubles as a diaper cream holder, 10 cars, a $3,800 Swarovski-encrusted baby bath (like Beyonce bought for her baby), or a $17,000 pacifier covered with 278 white diamonds. Jacey and Kyle were certainly never given, or spent, $90,000 on champagne in celebration, and Jayce didn’t get designer "bring baby home" clothes into the bargain. What baby Emerson got was a couple who loved him sight unseen and unconditionally and who will work tirelessly to see that his needs are met. He's getting a home full of pets, good Italian food (Jayce is Sicilian), and two parents who will give him all the love he needs and then some.
The thing is, there are no doubt many such stories like this one. Many babies were born to real-life heroes on July 22nd. Why doesn’t the media focus on them? But more, why don’t we?
