On a summer day, when my oldest child was very young (probably two or three years old), I put him in the child seat on my bike and took him for a ride. The weather was fine when we left our house, but after a few minutes it began to rain. Fortunately, a friend of mine happened by in his car just as the heavens opened. He pulled over, I unbuckled my son from the bike seat, and I handed my little boy to my friend. My son immediately began screaming as I gave him away to a person who to him was a perfect stranger. My friend drove off with his terrified passenger, and I rode my bike as fast as I could behind them in the pouring rain. When I got home, I was drenched, my son was shaking in his mother's arms, and my friend accepted our thanks for rescuing our precious little one from the storm. In the decades since that ill-fated ride, I never forgot the look of absolute terror in my son's face as I handed him over to a person he didn't know. I knew he would be home in short o
Meditations on Law and Life