FATHER SON

By Bob Greene, from Chicago Tribune. "A Father, a Son and an Answer" (orig.
subj.)
                                     THE ANSWER IS SO SIMPLE       Passing through the Atlanta airport one morning, I caught one of
those trains that take the travelers from the main terminal to their
boarding gate. Free, sterile, and impersonal, the trains run back and forth
all day long. Not many people consider them fun, but on this Saturday I
heard laughter.
      At the front of the first car-- looking out the window at the track
that lay ahead-- were a man and his son. We had just stopped to let off
passengers, and the doors were closing again. "Here we go! Hold on to me
tight," the father said. The boy, about five years old, made sounds of
sheer delights.
     Most of the people on the train were dressed for business trips or
vacations-- and the father and son were dressed in clothes that were just
about as inexpensive as you can buy.
     "Look out there!" the father said to his son. "See that pilot? I bet
he's walking to his plane." The son craned his neck to look.
     As I got off, I remembered something I'd wanted to buy in the
terminal. I was early for my flight, so I decided to go back. I did-- and
just as I was about to reboard the train for my gate, I saw that the man
and his son had returned too. I realized then that they hadn't been heading
for a flight, but had just been riding the shuttle.
     "You want to go home now?" the father asked.
     "I want to ride some more."
     "More?" the father said, mock-exasperated but clearly pleased. "You're
not tired?"
     "This is fun," the son said.
     "All right," the father said, and when the door opened we all got on.
     There are parents who can afford to send their children to Europe or
Disneyland, and the children turn out rotten. There are parents who live in
million-dollar houses and give their children cars and swimming pools, yet
something goes wrong. Rich and poor, black and white, so much goes wrong so
often.
     "Where are all these people going, Daddy?" the son asked.
     All over the world," came the reply.The other people in the airport
were leaving for distant destinations or arriving at the ends of their
journeys. The father and son, though, were just riding this shuttle
together, making it exciting, sharing each other's company.
     So many troubles in this country-- so many questions about what to do.
     The answer is so simple: Parents who care enough to spend time, and to
pay attention, and try their best. It doesn't cost a cent, yet it is the
most valuable thing in the world..
     The train picked up speed, and the father pointed something out, and
the boy laughed again, and the answer is so simple.