The lame shall enter first

This short story was so sad to me because the father in his "hopes" to make his son (Norton) a less selfish person and to make him care more about "Rufus Johnson" he in-fact was doing the exact same thing he was persuading his son to do.

In one word Sheppard was a hypocrite. While he was trying to soothe himself and how he dealt with his mourning over his wife's loss he was neglecting his own flesh and blood son. And by the time he had come to realize what he was doing wrong and how he had really missed out on his sons life it was just too late Norton was already dead.

I think all three of these characters needed help, but all three of them went about the wrong way. And in our natural state we are all selfish and that was very relevant in this story.

The point where Rufus Johnson was accusing Sheppard of not having faith in him he needed validation and Sheppard really did not trust Rufus, so he was not really that off base.

Johnson's disability was more obvious than Norton's and I think that is why Sheppard was mad at his son because although, we the reader could see the pain and hurt in all three characters all they could see was their own pain. And all Sheppard could see was the most obvious pain which was Rufus.

There is so much more to this story that I have not seen yet and I am still working on it