Thursday, December 29, 2005

Farris Hassan's Day Off

Parents, do you know where your teenager is? Making out with his girlfriend in the back of your SUV? In his room downloading porn? Smoking weed behind the football field bleachers? Trying to score a plate of dolma outside an international hotel in Baghdad?

AP reported today on a 16-year-old Floridian who approached reporters at a Baghdad Hotel after traveling to Iraq alone, without his parents’ permission, after damn near getting himself beat up, kidnapped or killed. Attempting to experience “immersion journalism” in response to a class assignment, the boy’s resourcefulness, naiveté and idealism could have ended tragically.

And you were worried your kid was sneaking off to an unsupervised party with a pony keg of Budweiser. Next time he gets caught, his line will be, “Cut me some slack. At least I didn’t sneak off to Iraq!”

Who knew that parents needed to stash their kids’ passports in a safe deposit box?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I applaud that kid for his educational creativity. Though his parents may be wagging their fingers at him now, I can't imagine a better topic for his college application essay!