Faux Fur, Siblings and the Search for Significance: Do I Matter?

The argument must have lasted for 10 minutes.

And that’s an incredible length of time for such an inane debate. My son contended the fur trim on his coat was real; my daughter insisted otherwise. But I was suspicious of his vehemence and sidelined him afterwards for a conversation about it.

“I think you knew it wasn’t real,” I probed.
“Yeah,” came the bashful reply after some careful inspection of the carpet at his feet.
“So, why did you keep saying it was?”
“Because I wanted to be important.”

I was flabbergasted both by the candor and the self-awareness.   Read More