Yesterday (12/9/2011) marked the end of my 29+ year career with Deloitte. Now, I open up my own shop, become my own boss. Parker Bond Consulting L.L.C. is now open for business, providing the same very narrowly specialized tax services that I've been providing for nearly 25 years. Here's to hoping it works out well. Exciting, scary, anything but dull at this point.

Prayers are solicited.

We are grandparents.

Wyatt weighs 7 pounds, 4 ounces, and is 20.5 inches long.

I just watched the movie based on Cormac McCarthy’s novel, The Road. (Warning if this post makes you consider seeing the film: it is about a very serious, possibly depressing, subject; it is NOT light entertainment, by any definition.)

The protagonists are a father and his young son. Throughout the film, all the characters are living in dire circumstances, just trying to survive when dying would be so much simpler. (Indeed, some characters choose that route.) The main characters are attempting to both survive, and retain their humanity.

Are you familiar with the concept of “triage”? That’s where it is a given that you will not be able to take care of everyone (of all who are in need of medical care, in the literal usage). So you ration the care in some fashion. There’s no need to take offense at the notion. What, exactly, would you propose to do when you have five life-or-death emergencies and only two doctors? Something simply has to give, meaning that someone is left unattended. Someone will almost surely die.

I think it’s fair to describe the situation in The Road as a “triage situation.” As the fortunes of the protagonists wax and wane, there are times when they could be of some help to other people. Should they assist anyone? Everyone? Should the father first ensure their own survival, turning others away? What would you do? (The better question might be, what do you THINK you would do? None of us really knows, until faced with the situation.)

The Road presents a thought-provoking scenario, to be sure. And something occurred to me while watching it. I think this idea was already floating around in my mind, in an ill-defined, rather nebulous fashion, but I had never been able to put it to words. Here it is: I’m not sure that it’s possible to live in a triage situation without having your own humanity damaged to some degree.

How can it not be damaged? If you have no real choice but to let someone die (when, had there been sufficient resources, you would not have had to do so), how can that keep from affecting you in a very serious fashion? Is there any way to keep it from damaging your humanity?

Food for thought.

We're a-gonna be grandparents! (Sounds cool to us!)

As you may have heard, in 1987 a woman named Pam Tebow was advised by her doctors to abort her unborn child. She declined. As you may also know, that child - Tim Tebow - has gone on to win the Heisman and lead his team to two BCS championships.

Focus on the Family has purchased a 30-second commercial spot on the upcoming Super Bowl broadcast. Reportedly, without mentioning either the word "abortion" or the term "pro-life," this spot tells something about the Tebow story, and has the theme "Celebrate Family. Celebrate Life."

I'm sure you're offended, right? The Super Bowl is a uniter, not a divider; it ain't supposed to be about politics! (So complain several complainants.) And Erin Matson, the Action Vice President of the National Organization for Women, says this: "This ad is frankly offensive. It is hate masquerading as love. It sends a message that abortion is always a mistake." Well, regarding the last sentence, certainly that's true. And I understand that the woman is offended; the "pro-choice" lobby will never, ever accept any restrictions on or even "discouragements" of abortion, if they can help it. But "hate masquerading as love"? Wow. I've seen absurd statements before, but that's got to rank pretty high.

No, you're not going to be offended by the TV spot. Neither will the vast majority of Americans be offended. More than a few may have the obvious truth dawn on them. ("I hadn't really thought about that; what if Tim's mama had aborted him? I wonder if any great athletes were never born because they were aborted?")

And the last thing the abortion lobby wants is for honest people to really THINK about what an abortion actually does. That's why our job is to get them to do just that. Get them to realize this: it's a baby, not a piece of "fetal tissue."