Today it was announced that Mark Madoff, the son of Bernie Madoff, apparently hanged himself in his New York City apartment. His father was arrested two years ago today.
There are accusations about whether or not Mark Madoff and his brother had knowledge about what their father was doing and whether or not they benefited from it. But it was Mark and his brother who turned in their father.
We do not know what other dark clouds Mark Madoff was facing, but it is easy to see that his life was changed by the actions of his father. Add to that the albatross from his own choice to betray his father. Unfortunately, Mark Madoff’s children now carry their father’s burdens, even though Mark’s wife worked to lessen the connection to their grandfather by changing their last name. According to reports today, Mark Madoff’s two-year-old son was sleeping in the bedroom next to the room where Mark hanged himself. One’s heart goes out to the family, despite the suffering created by Bernie Madoff himself. I cannot help but wonder how Bernie Madoff feels about all of the tragedy he has wrought on so many lives, including his own sons.
Bruce Springsteen has written several songs touching on the father-son relationship, borne out of his own troubles. The lyrics to “Adam Raised a Cain” seem relevant here: “They fit you with position/ And the keys to your daddy’s Cadillac./ In the darkness of your room,/Your mother calls you by your true name.” It is unfortunate that the sins get passed on from generation to generation.
You’re born into this life paying,
for the sins of somebody else’s past,
Daddy worked his whole life, for nothing but the pain,
Now he walks these empty rooms, looking for something to blame,
You inherit the sins, you inherit the flames,
Adam raised a Cain.
In one of his most beautiful songs, “Long Time Comin’,” Springsteen sings one of the best wishes a parent could have for a child. In a single line, he gently erases the curse of “Adam Raised a Cain.”
“Well if I had one wish for you in
this God forsaken world, kid
It’d be that your mistakes will be your own.
That your sins will be your own”
On this cold winter day, may your sins be your own.
Leave your two cents in the comments. Photo via public domain.
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This news barely caught my attention last week. Then yesterday I heard the Fistful of Mercy song Father’s Son. And I thought about what it might have been like to grow up as George Harrison’s son. (Fistful of Mercy is a folk ‘supergroup’ including Dhani Harrison, Ben Harper and Joseph Arthur.) And then I thought of this post and thought you might have something to say about it.
It sounds like the title more than the lyrics made you wonder about growing up as George Harrison’s son. Interesting question. The lyrics seem more out of a blues song (“The devil’s all I serve/ My woman she done left me”). But the chorus of “So down low better slow down lord / So down low better slow down lord” did seem to have echoes of the chorus of the father’s hit song “My Sweet Lord.” Thanks for pointing out the song, and the interesting question of what it must have been like to have been a Beatles’ child.