But the children should not be defined by the choices of their parents.
They will have the opportunity to become their own people.
The Final Lesson
The most sensational version of the story is easy to tell.
A mother.
A daughter.
One man.
Two pregnancies.
A shocking secret.
But the sensational version leaves out the people.
The mother is not simply a headline.
The daughter is not simply a headline.
The babies are certainly not headlines.
They are people trying to live through an extraordinary situation.
Perhaps the most important lesson is therefore not about scandal.
It is about responsibility.
Adults make choices.
Adults sometimes make terrible mistakes.
Adults sometimes deceive one another.
But when children are involved, the responsibility becomes even greater.
Children deserve stability.
They deserve honesty appropriate to their age.
They deserve protection from unnecessary public humiliation.
And above all, they deserve to understand that the circumstances surrounding their birth do not determine their worth.
