The Conscious Parent

contained a powerful lesson for her.
Elizabeth and Matthew’s older son, David, is a star basketball player,
an A student, generous and compassionate by nature, and most of all a
truly wise soul. Things are a little different with their younger son,
Deacon. Not so academically astute nor athletically inclined, Deacon is
rather sloppy, inattentive, forgetful, and sluggish. Engaging life in a
nontraditional manner, he refuses to be pressured by the standard rules of
life, preferring to set his own rules. Unconcerned about how he looks,
what he wears, or how he comes across, he resists competition and
success in the material world, preferring to spend his time tending his
pets, reading, and tutoring underprivileged children. Seemingly
untouched by the numbers on his report card, he regularly fails his
classes, declaring that he wants to be an organic farmer or teach in a
Third World country. Because he’s a dreamer and nontraditional in every
sense of the word, he is at times his father’s worst nightmare.
If Matthew has a hard time accepting Deacon, he has an even harder
time reconciling the fact his two sons are so different. He feels proud
when he’s with David, but experiences humiliation and even resentment
around Deacon. Categorizing his sons based on how they make his ego
feel, he is unable to discover the lessons that are abundantly present for
his growth.
Elizabeth, on the other hand, completely “gets it.” She sees how David
serves to solidify her ego, but how Deacon crumbles it. “Imagine what a
horridly egotistical parent I would be if I only had David,” she confessed
to me. “Thank goodness I have Deacon to remind me to be more
accepting of the nontraditional and different.”