Mike's Newspaper Column

Mike's Newspaper Column
Read Mike's column weekly in the Times Community Newspaper Family, including the legendary Kettering-Oakwood Times, and posted here the following week.

Monday, February 9, 2009

Gladys Kravitz is Alive and Well

Gladys Kravitz is Alive and Well

Remember Gladys Kravitz? If you’re a Gen-Xer or younger probably not…….unless you watch reruns. Kravitz was the neighbor of Darrin and Samantha Stephens on the TV series “Bewitched”. She was the quintessential nosey neighbor with that nose planted firmly in the living room window to report on all goings on in and around the street. She seemed to live for that role and it was what kept her going. I suggest that Gladys isn’t dead, she has just morphed. She has shape-shifted into the American media and, for that matter, most of us!

The latest incarnation of Gladys has been with the recent octuplet births in California. This is a story that has grown a life of its own when, in fact, it’s none of our business.

In case you’ve been comatose or in a monastery for the past week or so, a hospital team announced that single mother Nadya Suleman, along with a team of IVF docs, decided to impregnate her after already giving birth to her earlier six children. We later learned her reason; she wanted to be a mother.

The media wolves soon set up camp outside the hospital, and her parents’ home where Nadya lives. The family now has to live with microphones, cameras and paparazzi at every turn outside their modest home. The talk shows, columnists (gee, like me I suppose) and amateur shrinks and social workers around the water cooler are evaluating her motives and sanity. Even her mother has finally broken down and made the comment that Nadya’s decision was "really unconscionable" since she has no visible means of support for herself or the 14 children. She is alleged to have a publicist bringing her multi-million dollar offers for her story (which I would guess could solve the support question). I have even seen several of the TV rags saying Nadya pumped her lips up so she would resemble actress Angelina Jolie.

I listened to a mainstream talk radio host who is an “ordained Christian minister” call her everything but normal. He attacked her, in-vitro fertilization in general, her parents, the doctors and his own mother for this disgraceful situation. I guess he was that guy in the crowd in the Bible who was so without sin he could cast that first stone.

I am not excusing or rationalizing. I am not claiming to know her thought process, or if there are some crossed wires in her noggin. I choose not to speculate on motives or ultimate financial gains. The bottom line is that I don’t care because it’s none of my business! And, it’s none of yours either!

Now if you want to use that “taxpayers like us will have to support them” line, forget it. In the whole scheme of things, we waste a trillion times more in social giveaway programs already than they will ever need…….and you sent those big spenders back to Congress four months ago…..with a new leader!

This ravaging of Nadya as a person is tantamount to character assassination and spiritual murder. And the sad thing is that we’ll eventually back off this one (once all the meat is off the bones) but it’ll take us no time at all to find another to fill our curiosity gullets.