Does Phillip Buchanon owe his mom a cool million?

CBs in a Base 3-4 Defense  (Killervogel5)

Some parents generously put their kids through college, and then some.  Others demand “back pay” (in one form or another) for their parental “services.”

When former NFL cornerback Phillip Buchanon was drafted in 2002, he was afterwards hit with this claim by his mother:  …she told me that I owed her a million dollars for raising me

for the past 18 years…   

For those math majors in the crowd, this breaks down to “approximately $55, 555.55 a year in restitution.”  After all, raising a child isn't cheap these days.

Nevertheless, should a grown “child” feel obligated to reimburse Mom and Pop for their years of parenting?  If so, in what way? 

Does “Honor thy mother and father” carry with it a monetary “clause,” or simply (well, not so  simply) an ethical one?

Des Bieler of The Washington Post contends that Buchanon “didn’t ask to be born.”  Some karmic philosophies might beg to differ.  And once born, most infants seem intent upon being nurtured.

Bieler points out that relatives of “countless other professional athletes” ask for financial assistance. Is this all that qualitatively different from a mother seeking reimbursement?

Some might say that parenting falls into a special category.  Buchanon himself, although admittedly enraged over this million-dollar claim, has stated:  It’s true; mothers have a way of making you learn the most important lessons in life.    

Resources

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/early-lead/wp/2015/04/12/former-nfl-cornerback-phillip-buchanons-mom-wanted-a-million-dollars-after-he-was-drafted/

Copyright April 20, 2015 by Linda Van Slyke   All Rights Reserved