They Think They are Loving Parents. They are Wrong. They are Irresponsible, Selfish Fools, and They are the Modern Template.

He is a cardiologist. She is a general practitioner.

They are both doctors, health care workers. They are both professionals. No doubt, they are smart and they work hard and they are not suffering financially.

They take their 3 kids to a resort in Portugal. A daughter is almost 4, the twins are 2 years old.

The father and mother decide they'd like a little quiet romantic time. Nothing extravagant, just a dinner by themselves.

Do they get a baby-sitter? No. Can they afford one? Yes. Did they bring the nanny from England with them to the resort? No. Could they have? yes.

How do I know they have a nanny? How do I know they could have brought her?

Because he is a cardiologist and she is a G.P. They are professionals with 3 young children. Somebody must be at home while they're earning the loot to but the next Land Rover.

So. Mom and Dad leave their 3 kids at a rented apartment and go out to eat by themselves.

When the disaster strikes - as it must - they sob to the cameras that they "checked on the kids every half hour."

The disaster in this instance is called "kidnapping."

But here are some of the other swell things that can happen IN A FUCKING NANO-SECOND - when you leave 3 kids under the age of 5 alone and unattended in a rented apartment:

- choking on a pencil, a bottle cap, a candy, a lug nut

- fire

- falling out a window

and that's just for openers.

Of course, nobody deserves the horrible nightmare in which these two idiots find themselves. Of course, we all sympathize for a plight that none of us would want or know how to endure.

BUT.

I suggest that these so-called parents are the poster boy and girl for the thoroughly modern version of humankind, western, free-market, democracy style.

No doubt they text message on their blackberries while driving and shout asparagus instructions to each other over their cells while shopping.

My son and I discussed this case yesterday after breakfast. He recalled the many demonic instances of our over-diligence when he was a child and his mother and I were young parents. We laughed, and we counted our blessings that we were still here to laugh.