Seems like the pirates off the coast of Africa have highjacked more than freighters and a sea captain or two. They’ve also taken our media hostage. Lifeboats and Navy Seals and Somali pirates and high-seas heroism have nudged an impending cataclysm out of the media spotlight. Wouldn’t it be terrific if we could resume the life we seem entitled to? I for one would love to be able to tell my college-sophomore daughter to go ahead and accept all the credit card offers that will soon fill her mailbox. That she really deserves a summer of borrowed leisure; after all, she’s earned it. Well, even if she hasn’t earned it I don’t want her to have to make any hard choices. That could make her feel very much out of step with the rest of the culture. It might actually mean she would have to figure out what and who she really is, rather than letting the fickle winds of commerce make those calls for her. It’s just so much easier to avoid the hard realities.