Osler's Razor

This is IPLawGuy with Elizabeth Crane Brooke, who was born yesterday. She's the luckiest little girl in the world. She has parents who are patient and warm and grandparents who will adore her, all of whom will teach her to work hard with the intelligence she was no doubt born with. She also has a dizzying set of accoutrements, all with attachments that spin cows or something overhead. But, her crib could be a fedex box, and she'd still be lucky.

I was once at a Quaker meeting in Hanover New Hampshire, and (as it should be) everyone was silent. Then, from the basement came the sound of two of the kids who were down there yelling something at the top of their lungs. People laughed a little, and then after a minute or two a woman said one of the most meaningful things I have heard. She said that when her child was born, he was all innocence, and she could hold that innocence in one arm, with his head at her elbow and his feet in the palm of her hand, and it was hard to describe her joy. Her love for the newborn was completely pure, unmixed with anything difficult or troubling or sad. It was simple-- maybe this is one reason we find it easiest to celebrate the baby Jesus than the adult, because there are no stories to sort through. Over time, of course, this woman's child grew up and made some mistakes and hurt her (as we all do to our parents), and it seemed like the purity of that love was diluted. But, she said, that wasn't right-- when she heard him laugh, it was still there, as full and round and strong as that day he was born, a parent's love.

Look, I know that the same basic point (about Jesus, anyways) was made by Ricky Bobby in "Talledega Nights," but it's that morning in Hanover that I think of when I look at the picture of tiny Libby Brooke. Welcome to the world, baby. It's a good place.