ATDTDA - petroleurs, p.19

[kelber at mindspring.com]

My grandfather was a loyal Communist who felt that having a family was bourgeois, so he walked out on his wife and kids, leaving them destitute, to go organize the unemployed.  Years later, I was walking down the street with him and he ran into an acquaintance.  He introduced me as a young college student whom he just happened to know, who was active in the anti-apartheid movement.

At his funeral, his comrades were amazed to discover that he had children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.  But I loved him anyway.

Laura

-----Original Message-----
>From: robinlandseadel at comcast.net

>
>My Mom, Goddess Bless her soul, 
>shares that tragic flaw. Guess what? It's tragic!
>She's an activist all over the place, and sure---she's all that,
>but it does push everything else away, including her family.
>
>---I agree with you about Webb, but this tragic flaw you mention is not a
>---minor one, both for himself and his family.  I think you downplay the
>---emotional affects his priorities have on all of his family. This loss
>---of perspective on his own part is what makes him such an easy mark,
>---and is why his own fellow unionists send him away into the further
>---wilderness.
>
>David Morris
>
>On 1/28/07, kelber at mindspring.com <kelber at mindspring.com> wrote:
>>
>> I personally feel that Webb is one of the most, if not the most, sympathetic 
>characters in the book.  His tragic flaw being that he spent too much time being 
>an anarchist to be a good father.