HOW DO YOU RELOAD THIS THING?:

For Child of an Affair, Bitterness Lingers (CHRIS HEDGES, December 21, 2002, NY Times)

If there is one word that defines H. R. Vargas's life, it is rage. If there is one word he would like to define his life, it is love. But loving, and being loved, is not easy for him. The walls went up early when his mother became pregnant and his father walked away.

His father was in a relationship with another woman at the time, and Mr. Vargas would not meet him for 21 years. The word "father" is still hard for him to utter, even as he raises two sons of his own in this small town.

While for some adultery no longer carries the collective moral weight it once did, Mr. Vargas, 25, known to his friends as Spirit, wears the broken commandment like a heavy chain around his neck. He says it has done nothing short of devastating his life.

"When you commit adultery, you break a promise," he said, "not only to the woman you are in a committed relationship with, not only to the woman you had an affair with, but maybe most importantly to the children born from the affair."

This continues to be a very frustrating series. In this instance, one might think it would be worth noting, given the context, that it is a promise to God that is being broken too. Posted by Orrin Judd at December 21, 2002 11:02 AM