LITTLE ROCK — As The Dad Zone's World Turns :
Did you catch that story in the newspaper a couple of weekends ago?
It seems arranged marriages are a big thing in Afghanistan. No big shocker, right? Arranged marriages remain common in many countries. While they might seem archaic to our romantic American sensibilities, they're more successful than many of us would like to think.
The "bad" marriages stand out, of course, but let's face it: The neo-American model of marrying whoever makes you feel good at the moment isn't working so well, either. No matter the culture, lasting marriages are more about abiding love and commitment than fleeting passions (not that passion isn't important).
In Afghanistan, the arrangements are more extreme than in many other countries. Just ask Sunam, an Afghan bride-to-be. But she might not offer much of an answer given that she's 3 years old. Her hubby-tobe (and cousin) is nearly over the hill at 7.
UNICEF reports that about 16 percent of Afghan children marry before they turn 15. And the United Nations says child marriages account for 43 percent of all marriages there.
The government of Afghanistan doesn't officially sanction these marriages. The law says a girl must be at least 16 and a boy at least 18 if they want to wed.
Indeed, the only government I know of that allows parents to marry off their babies is, well, Arkansas.
Speaking of babies, we're counting down the weeks until the grandkids arrive. Soon we'll be counting the days.
The parents have been taking classes on such critical issues as how to swaddle. The dads have been warned that this won't be an A plus B equals C experience, so expect the unexpected. The moms, uncomfortable as they might get during the final stages of pregnancy, are glowing with the new life that's within them.
Podge - that's me - can't wait.
But there is one small dilemma: What kind of toys to buy them.
I'm on the lookout for something that hasn't been recalled by its manufacturer or won't be recalled in, say, the next five years.
My best bet, I figure, is to raid our kitchen for a wooden spoon and an old pot.
Earlier this year, Mark Mc-Cormick, a columnist for The Wichita Eagle in Kansas, called the city's police chief to ask about a policy that requires emergency medical personnel to wait for police to secure a crime scene before rendering aid.
The subject had come up because a woman who was stabbed during an altercation at a convenience store ended up dying at a hospital. Was the policy partly to blame?
Police Chief Norman Williams preferred to blame some of the shoppers at the store. It seems five of those shoppers stepped over the injured woman without helping. One stopped to take her picture. It was all captured on a store surveillance video, the chief said.
"This is just appalling," Williams told the newspaper. "I could continue shopping and not render aid and then take time out to take a picture? That's crazy. What happened to our respect for life?"
Conclusion: When society stops respecting life in some of its stages, some folks will stop respecting life in any of its stages.
Stephen Caldwell is the city editor of the Northwest Arkansas edition. He and his wife live in Fayetteville and have four children and one dog. Email him at:
Family, Pages 35, 37 on 10/24/2007