Monday, April 23, 2007

It's Okay Alec Baldwin


I like Alec Baldwin. I know everyone is jumping on the “We Hate Alec Baldwin” bandwagon, but not me. I feel sorry for the man.
Don’t get me wrong, some of the comments he made to his daughter were wrong, in my opinion. There was probably a better way to handle it, and a different choice of words would have headed off this maelstrom of Alec bashing. But the last time I checked, Alec Baldwin was just a man, a human being, with all the faults and foibles thereof.
I listened to the voice-mail and it sounded to me like a man who was hurt, angry and in pain, and he lashed out at his daughter. Wrong? Maybe. Understandable and forgivable, you bet.
Ireland sounds like a girl who has been put in the middle of her parents divorce and residual anger. If we want to make Alec the bad guy for his inflammatory language towards his daughter, shouldn’t we also blame Kim for releasing the audio to the media and increasing her daughters discomfort a thousand fold? Children aren’t pawns to be used to make the other parent “pay”. They are innocent parties in a sometimes ugly war. Let’s leave them out of it. Kim has an obligation as a mother to help her child maintain a good relationship with the non-custodial parent.
Someday Ireland will grow up and hopefully she will want, and have, a loving relationship with both of her parents. But you don’t get there by starting at age eighteen. You start from day one. And you’ll make mistakes along the way. (Hint, hint Alex…have a long, civil talk with your daughter. Apologize for the error of your ways. Make a real effort to make the communication with your daughter about making the relationship work.) And then you try to fix the mistake and move on, trying not to make the same mistake happen over and over again. (Hint, hint Kim…leave the media out of your relationship with your ex. It just makes you look manipulative) And the child needs to feel free and open to express themselves as well. (Hint, hint Ireland…answer your dad’s calls and don’t let your parents drag you into their mess. You’ll have plenty of messes of your own, trust me.)
And to those people on the “You’re a rotten father” diatribe…Hint, hint, you shouldn’t judge a situation you know nothing about. Most of us couldn’t stand up to that kind of scrutiny. None of us is perfect, not even Alec Baldwin.

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...