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Something less predictable than tides on the high seas

1 min read

When not obsessively reporting on the high-seas mystery of the missing Malaysian airliner, cable news in recent days turned its attention to the high-seas rescue by the U.S. Navy of a family floating in the middle of the Pacific Ocean on a sailboat without steering or communication abilities.

The rescue, which surely cost a few bucks, had to be carried out because a 1-year-old child being lugged around the world by her parents came down with an undisclosed illness hundreds of miles from the nearest pediatrician or MedExpress office. A 3-year-old was also along on this misbegotten adventure. In the face of intense criticism about subjecting two toddlers to this escapade, their parents, Eric and Charlotte Kaufman, explained that “when we departed on this journey more than a year ago, we were … confident that we prepared as well as any sailing crew could.”

But children and their health are considerably less predictable than the tides. This is a journey their parents should have taken before their offspring were born, or after they had packed them off to college.

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