Sunday, January 26, 2014

Rated PG

Do you know what phrase I never hear? "Justin Bieber's parents." Instead of simply hearing about how the Bieb has just been caught egging his neighbor's house, wouldn't it be refreshing to hear that someone would step in and give this young miscreant the trouble he deserves? "Justin Bieber's parents are very disappointed in him." I would guess this goes double for the most recent drunk driving arrest in Florida. According to police officers on the scene, after his arrest, Bieber cursed out the arresting officer then admitted to having beer, pot and prescription drugs in his system. Drag racing stoned is no way to go through life, son.
He's nineteen years old. His "posse" was driving SUVs behind the drag race in order to block traffic. It's good for a boy to have people around him he can trust. People who will take the fall for you when you're carrying a little extra weed into a foreign country. Guys who would lay down their lives for you, or at least carry you on a tour of the Great Wall of China. "Justin, that was very immature of you."
How and/or why could this possibly matter? This Canadian popstar manchild will eventually have little or no impact on the planet or its eventual fate. Why should I care? Because I'm a parent. Justin's mother, Patti Mallette, had this to say: "He knows what I disagree with and he knows all the things that I'm really proud of him for, too. I mean, people don't talk about all the great things he does every day." For the record, things for which she is proud of her son: meeting with Make-a-Wish kids, going to sick kids' hospitals, visiting with them and taking his time, giving back to charities. We assume the not-so-proud list includes the whole DUI thing and incidents like urinating in a janitor's mop bucket in the kitchen of a New York night club. When asked what the coolest thing about being Justin's mother is, she replied: "I think it is being able to use this platform for good. I get to write a book and tell my story and bring hope to all kinds of teenagers that really need it," said the author of Nowhere But Up. In that 2012 memoir, Mallette recalls her earliest memories, which center around an alcoholic and abusive father, who left the family when she was two years old. It also describes how fourteen years old, she began experimenting with drugs, including alcohol, marijuana and LSD. She also started shoplifting. When she vandalized school property by starting a fire in a bathroom, she was suspended from school. She was seventeen when she got pregnant with a bouncing baby Bieber. The boy took his father's name. This may be why we never hear about Justin Bieber's parents. It's kind of redundant.

1 comment:

Kristen Caven said...

You forgot to mention his dad. Who is one of his "posse" and was driving the SUV....