I typically make every effort to avoid “heartwarming” stories about children recounting how magnificent their fathers were. This becomes increasingly difficult when you stroll into English class and your professor tells you to sit yourself down and read a couple of “look at my awesome dad” stories. Despite my initial disdain for the topic, I whipped out my book, determined not to approach the assignment with my usual jaded mindset. That being said, I still loathed the reading. Brad Manning exhibits a somewhat disturbing fetish for the hairy arms of a middle-aged man. Halfway through the essay I began to beg Manning to please not say the word “arm” again, lest I begin to pull out my hair in frustration. Rather than heed my pleas, Manning chose to use the word “arm” another SEVENTY THREE times, and I am fairly certain I now sport a bald spot behind my left ear.…show more content… Manning talks about the time his father spent with him, playing games and arm wrestling, but writes off all this attention as a shortcoming on his father’s part. Manning is quick to dismiss his father’s lacrosse coaching but laments that his father never signed his birthday cards. I found Manning’s scornful attitude to be infuriating. There are kids who spend years yearning for five minutes of attention from their fathers, yet manning has such a surplus of father-son bonding time, he brushes it off as though it was a nuisance. Perhaps he believes his father’s time would have been better spent composing poetry than
