Family Ties and Disconnects

"I can't work due to illness, so there is barely any money coming into the house and we only just about get by. His grandma has a bad back, too, but works like a dog hauling huge bags of paint powder 40 hours a week."
"He was such a big part of our life, and now nothing. It's like he is a stranger and now we barely know him. Thank goodness we have ten other grandchildren is all I can say."
"For them, nothing seems to be too much trouble, and he buys them new houses, cars, luxury holidays, anything they want. But for us, nothing. It's hard to imagine the money Justin has, as it's about as far removed from our life as you could possibly get."
"Justin has just got too big for his britches."
"He will always be my grandson and I am, and will always be, so proud of him. It's just sad he is not a bigger part of our life."
George Bieber, pop-star Justin Bieber's grandad

Pretty sad stuff, revealing the essence of the human condition at its grottiest of spirit, to read that the celebrity-figure of a teen pop-star whose popularity and success has earned him millions, has moved beyond familial ties of responsibility to those who are in dire need of attention and assistance. Perhaps, on second thought, even if they were not in dire need of financial assistance, being in possession of over $100-million might convince most normal human beings that a little bit could be peeled off for presentation to beloved grandparents.

Nick Stern   Pop star Justin Bieber and his grandfather, George, who claims to be living on the rocks

Well, then, perhaps not at the moment, particularly beloved. This is of course, the paternal grandparents. Their son being the teen-songster-phenomenon's father. An estranged father. Whom the mother has few fond considerations of. When couples part, the unforgiving grudges that result from the sundering of love and coupledom and parenthood can be quite unforgiving. And the spleen that is felt has a habit of spreading, inclusive of those who represent the spear side of the family.

The distaff side, when the mother is predictably left with the child, is the favoured half. This is human nature, and not at its best. There must be spite involved to explain the disparity in care and attention lavished on one set of grandparents who, to paraphrase grandfather George, 'new houses, cars, luxury holidays, anything they want', is owing - to Diane Dale and her husband, Bruce. George Bieber and his overworked wife, grandparents to Justin, have been given short shrift, in a power play.

"It's like we now live on different planets", said the grandfather. Well, it must sting to know that part of the family lives in luxury, and the other part does not. "He never calls us, and now I sometimes think he doesn't care", said the grandfather who laments that his grandson hasn't visited his home in years. Well, that's a pretty busy fellow there, appearing in all manner of well-remunerated venues. There's little time to spare, other than to live a life of celebrity and preening self-aggrandizement.

Grandfather George might be unhappy, but then so are a lot of other people who fault his grandson's supreme focus on self. But then, from this photograph above of the two of them together in happier times, presumably pre-entertainer-success, it seems evident that the tattoo with which the young boy had himself festooned betrayed thoughts of self as royalty. Those grandparents, down at heel and decidedly scruffy in appearance, lacking youth, health and money, do not reflect well on the persona of a hip, popular cultural success.

It's clear that if the poor publicity that this tale represents does not elicit an immediate apologetic response from young Bieber --  whose recent muse that Anne Frank, that ill-fated young Jewish Dutch girl who was destined to write a diary of furtive attempts to evade certain death would, had she not been incinerated at Auschwitz, most certainly have been a 'belieber' has earned the boy a slap across the head -- his grandparents had better accustom themselves to continue living in dismal poverty, and treasure their now-tarnished memories of better times.

 

Nick Stern