I heard about this earlier today, and of course the "talk shows" have been all over it....
However...this is how I'm looking at it.
Here's a girl who is 19 with a child almost 2 years old. She's living away from her parents home, I can't remember from when I saw Bristol interviewed the last time if she said it was just her and the baby or she has a roommate. Either way...it has to be tough. Plus...no matter how one looks at it....she's a 19yo unwed mother who was obviously pregnant around 17. She might as well be wearing a sign around her neck that says "YOUNG AND DUMB".
There is still a stigma attached to young unwed mothers....one that is not attached to career women in their 30's or 40's who decide to either have a child themselves or adopt a child. For an "older" career woman...who can AFFORD to support not only herself, but a child, without anyone else's help...who has a child, she is seen as either smart for going ahead and having a child before her biological clock stops or very lucky/noble to be able to adopt a child. No matter what the circumstances...an older woman does not have the stigma attached to her that a young high school girl does.
Top the stigma off, with suddenly being thrown into the world spotlight because your mother is nominated to be a candidate for Vice President of the United States! This poor girl...and I mean that seriously...has been put under a microscope for the last 2+ years! While Bristol should have been the typical high school girl who came home and told her parents she was pregnant....and the family be allowed time to make decisions as to how to deal with the pregnancy, their child and her future, the baby's father and his family, finishing high school, finances, etc....the entire situation was done through the bird's eye view by the entire country, if not all over the world (I don't know how much of this was made in other countries). I cannot imagine this child...because 17 or not, Bristol was still a child - if to no one else but her parents.....I cannot imagine how difficult it was for her to deal with just being pregnant...let alone doing it under a spotlight. I wonder just how well any of us would have done.
Add in the wonderful
Levi...who doesn't seem to be the sharpest knife in the drawer under any circumstances. From what I remember, his family has multiple issues. Maybe he wanted to be part of the Palin family just to have a family ....one who appears to be from all we have seen over the last couple of years...pretty close to defining the word "family". That is a powerful draw to a child who doesn't have a similar one of his own. But this would have been in the beginning of the relationship.
Again, just as the whole Sarah for VP candidate circus affected Bristol...it surely did Levi. Bristol was pregnant and he too was thrust into the national spotlight. As "cute" as he was, I would not be surprised to learn that he had "suggestive offers" in fan mail from all over the place. Pretty heady (
) stuff for a kid from the hinterlands of Alaska. Whereas Bristol might have been "the" girl in their town...suddenly a whole new world opens up to this kid. And to one without much of a moral compass...it would have been like a kid in a Willy Wonka Chocolate Factory.
I am not surprised that Levi walked the first time. Maybe he wouldn't have been a presence at all, if Sarah hadn't gotten the "nod". Maybe he only stayed because she did...and then walked when it was over. To go and "discover" all those possibilities that were open to his "studly" self that had never have happened if it weren't for Sarah Palin's nomination.
To me....where Levi really screwed the pooch...was when he started shooting off his mouth looking for every bit of 30 minutes of fame after he found he liked the first 15. He is attractive and he used that AND his so-called knowledge of the Palin family. We all know how people were willing to pay big bucks for any dirt on the Palin family. To a kid...without much of a moral upbringing ....he did just what a lot of other similar kids have done over the years...looked to make a buck however he could whether it was honorable or not. I'm not in any way excusing his behavior...there is no excuse...but giving a possible explanation for it.
Skip ahead to the present.
Sarah's making a ton of money.
Bristol is still looking good.
Baby is growing up.
Mmmmm....maybe getting back with Bristol isn't such a bad deal, and looking pretty good to him. He knows darn well that her family will never, ever abandon her or the baby....and he probably craves that connection....even though he's done everything he could to destroy it, and not having found the "fame" he thought he would.
To Bristol...he's still the father of her baby. Marrying him would legitimize her...not the baby, because Levi claimed him...but it would make Bristol a married momma....and take away the YOUNG and DUMB sign around her neck. In her mind, it would validate her, and announce to people that he still wants her....and naively think that she would no longer be referred to as Sarah's "unwed mother" daughter...which the media does every single time that girl is mentioned.
Sadly, taking him back after all he has said about her and her family...still makes her YOUNG and DUMB. It is doubtful that this relationship will last for long and rather than have people sympathize/empathize with her, they won't, simply because she should have known better than to take him back. Bless her heart, she will just end up with that sign saying..."DUMB AND DUMBER".
It is obvious, from the way they have announced the engagement, that Bristol knew her parents would never go along with her choice. And I would venture, the US magazine paid a pretty penny for the "scoop". More money into slimey Levi's hands.
I hope for Bristol's sake and her baby's....that she wakes up before a wedding happens and realize that she's being "played" yet again, and calls it off. I find it very ....umm what's the word? coincidental....that this is happening just as it's looking like Sarah may be going to make a run for President.
I hope that Bristol's family does some sort of intervention and prevent this wedding from taking place....and they find out just who is paying Levi to weasel his way back into the "fold".
Way to much analyzing I know....
