It Runs in the Family
Because why shouldn't it?
Greetings,
It’s good to be finally back in Maryland. But that’s not what I want to talk about, so let’s move on.
Some time ago, my dad told me of a book that he had written and published decades ago. I have some vague childhood memories about him having written a book and I’ve been wanting to talk to him about it. So I’m glad that he brought it up. I looked it up on the Internet and found out that his book was on the Online Public Access Catalogue for Indonesia’s National Library System.
Written in Indonesian, the title of this book translated to English would be something along the lines of Basic Understanding of the Leasing Business1. Unfortunately, I don’t have the book with me right now so I don’t really know what it’s about. I assume it’s some sort of economics book.
Thanks to Google Books, I also found that this is not the only book that my dad had ever published. This is where I found out that my dad’s alma mater published his Ph.D thesis called The Interrelationship of Monetary Policy, Foreign Investment, and Current Account in the Indonesian Economy. That one is also a book on economics, in particular the Indonesian economy during the late Suharto era.
[UPDATE 12/12/2023]
A correction. My dad told me that he wrote another book, it’s called Dasar Dasar Pajak Penghasilan, which in English would be something along the lines of “The Basics of Income Tax”. So my dad have actually published three books, not two.
[END OF CORRECTION]
Of course, if it wasn’t for the author’s name, I wouldn’t have given these books a second look. The latter, in particular, seemed about as a dated as an old sports almanac. But I’m not here to talk about economics2. Instead, I want to talk about something that can often be overlooked in today’s society: the children taking after their parents.
That brings me to the title of this post…
It Runs in the Family
As some of you readers might know, I am a novelist. So far, I have one book to my name: Inquisitor’s Promise3. That means I’m still behind my dad in terms of getting published, but I’m getting there.
Of course, my father and I wrote very different things: Fiction vs. Economics. Though I will admit that I’m somewhat drawn towards the dismal science even though I’ve only taken one course in economics in college, ever.
I’m treating this like it’s something crazy, but if you think about it, this just makes sense. Because why shouldn’t it run in the family?
Sports, AKA the Confluence of Meritocracy and Nepotism
I like watching sports. To me, the funniest thing about sports is how despite all the talks of it being as “meritocratic” as an industry can get, it is also like a family business in some ways. You’d see some common last names throughout the generations.
I remember growing up being amazed at Cesare Maldini and Paolo Maldini, two Italian soccer legends who happened to be father and son. While that is an extreme example of this phenomenon, it’s not the only one.
Here’s another example, Manchester City’s superstar Erling Haaland. Anyone halfway familiar with soccer know him and how he’s just a goalscoring machine for that club. But did you know that not only was his father a professional player, but he also used to play for Manchester City?
Or what about basketball player Klay Thompson? People know him as an integral member of the 2010s Golden State Warriors dynasty and Steph Curry4’s splash brother. But did you know that Klay’s father Mychal was the first non-American to have been drafted 1st overall in the NBA draft?
There are a lot more examples I can bring up5, but I believe I have made my point perfectly clear. One’s family means a lot. And I mean a lot. This should be common sense, and I think it is to a certain extent. On the other hand, we6 have been taught that nepotism is something that’s objectively bad.
But is it, really?
Sure, it can be abused. I think if your children are completely incompetent or mentally challenged, it would be irresponsible to hand over the keys of the kingdom to them. On the other hand, if they are reasonably competent, then I won’t think twice about people handing them the reins of power even though there might be someone unrelated who is probably more “qualified” for the job.
I’m sort of digressing right now. So I want to end this with the entrance song of pro-wrestler Cody Rhodes, whose father Dusty was a wrestling legend in the old days. As a casual in terms of pro-wrestling, I only found out about that recently. It certainly puts the “my father said” line in a new light:
Until next time,
Michael P. Marpaung
Admittedly, that’s a very rough translation of the title.
That’s a topic for another blogpost.
Is that a plug?
By the way, Steph Curry’s dad Dell was a good three point shooter back in the day. Do you think him being the father of the greatest shooter in NBA history a coincidence?
Like World Cup winning Lillian Thuram and his son Marcus who’s killing it in Inter Milan at the moment.
By that, I mean people in the West. But also the rest of the world by osmosis because America rules the world.