A Perfect Day for Buggy Programs

By Loren Chen

“Hello, mother,” said Mrs. Glass sheepishly as she picked up the phone,”How are you doing?” “Good ,” her mother replied, ”however, I am worried about Ben.” Sarah’s heart sank as she heard those words. It had been a very long move to the new house and her son, Ben, had been little to no help at all. He had spent the time trying furiously to help his family move the heavy boxes and unload the tools, but all he did was accidentally injured himself and his father. “Ben’s fine,” she replied, trying to sound confident even though she wasn’t, ”he was a great help with the move.” “Has he gotten into trouble lately?” asked Sarah’s mother.

“Not much,” Sarah quipped trying to hide the sarcasm in her voice.

“How is his new school?”

“Great.”

“Has he made any new friends?”

“Not yet, he’s kind of shy.”

“Is he over his cold yet?”

Sarah sighed as she glanced outside at the cloudy sky, knowing that Ben had gone for a quick walk outside at the park.

The park was small and silent. Several trees separated the sidewalk and the children’s playground. From the perspective of a person sitting on the playground, the sidewalk could be seen easily through the trees. On this particular day clouds blocked out the sun, creating a dark and gloomy park setting. In the playground a tall and strong boy stood on the playscape climbing the stairs and sliding down the slide. He was relatively tall and strong for the age of 16, with big broad shoulders and a round handsome face. One could tell that he was well fed based on his appearance and his pinkish complexion. While he did look his age, his behaviour and achievement proved otherwise. Ben was characterized by a lack of interpersonal skills and learning abilities, which many kids by the age of 15 would have been thought to have developed. His academic performance was less than stellar and his social life was rather sad. This had all to do with the multitude of disabilities that he was diagnosed with. Autism, depression, ADHD, were just a few as there were too many to name. As Ben slid on the swings, his memory jerked back to the dreadful scene at the psychologist's office.

It was a dark stormy drive to the psychologists’ office. The dark clouds had hung expectantly in the sky as Ben’s father gathered his family in the car. The family had driven to the phycologists’ office to collect the results of Ben’s test results. It was the kind of test to determine his psychological condition and would indicate if there were any issues with his phycology. For years of his childhood, Ben’s parents had assumed that there was something seriously wrong with his mind. They had gotten numerous calls from Ben’s teachers signaling his behavioral issues. Fighting with other kids, unresponsiveness when asked questions, lack of homework completion, and bullying had only scratched the surface. Ben’s parents had witnessed these issues at home as well. He was undisciplined, irresponsible, rude. and lacked self-control. Clearly there were indicators that Ben was unable to function well in society. When in the psychologist's office, Ben’s parents waited. The psychologist shook his head sadly. “I’m sorry,” he began, ”but I am afraid that your child is a very unfortunate one.” Naturally, Ben’s parents had a long talk with the phycologist about his condition. There were many disabilities listed. Each one with cons that outweigh the pros. Ben had been born with those disabilities and they explained his behaviour. He would probably even be referred to as a problem child considered by psychologists to be unparentable. LIttle did his parents know that this was only the start of many years of hard parenting and temper tantrums. Ben was so problematic that he would have made even the most patient parents rage.

A 6-year-old girl and her father were walking across the sidewalk. The 6-year-old muttered something happily to her father and he smiled and hugged her. Ben sighed. Back then in his childhood he had been nothing but a pain to parent. His constant temper tantrums and social disabilities had frustrated his parents. The 6-year-old was obviously way mature and developed than him. Two mothers were walking and chatting with each other in the park. One mom bragged about how her son had recently graduated from the IB program and was going on to University of Waterloo to study computer science. The other talked about how her daughter had recently opened up her own restaurant. Both parents talked extensively. This made Ben groan. His parents never had anything to brag about when faced with other parents. The only thing they could do was shake their heads and sigh and complain about his numerous shortcomings. In fact, Ben had rarely received praise, only criticism. Taking a spot on the top of a bench, Ben looked to see the 6-year-old girl approaching him. “You look sad?”she asked,”What’s wrong?” “Nothing much, just life,” Ben replied sheepishly, a sigh escaping his mouth.

“My daddy is a programmer . He finds bugs in software and fixes them.”

“Really.” Ben replied.

“Yeah, but he recently found a critically buggy program.But he worked hard and finally fixed the critical bugs. Now the program can run properly ”

“Oh.” replied Ben. HIs face immediately lit up.

“My daddy says most programs can be fixed, except for the really buggy ones.Those ones have to be destroyed. They are too buggy to even function.”

Ben was now thinking hard. His back was slouched down on the bench.

“Olivia, we have to leave; it is going to rain,” the girl’s father called out to her from a distance.

“Bye.” the girl replied cheerfully and left.

“Bye.” said Ben

Soon a quick shower passed and a smile appeared on Ben’s face as the sunlight and rainbow finally shown. Very soon he found himself uttering the same phrase over and over again-”Even critically bugged programs can be fixed. There is no bug too great ”