Since all we'll be doing in this thread is looping from now on, I'll add my perspective on the classic "Is Clint a bad dad?" loop.
I'll use a sports analogy. I, myself, have precisely zero athletic ability. I imagine myself trying out for a football team. I lack the arm strength and accuracy to make good passes. I lack the speed necessary to evade defenders. I would barely be able to stand up again after being tackled just once by an average sized player. By all accounts, my abilities (or lack thereof) would make me a BAD football player.
But what if I tried really hard? What if I loved the game of football so much that I wanted to participate despite my shortcomings?
I would train relentlessly -- lifting weights, running sprints, and studying past players to learn as much as I could and attempt to emulate them. I would give it my all at every opportunity, taking a beating in the process. I'd be like Rudy in the eponymous movie.
Was Rudy a good football player? The stats say no. He played a few minutes of garbage time in a single game and never played again at any level. But you can't deny his passion, his determination, and his love of the game. In that sense, he couldn't have been any better.
Clint is the Rudy of dads. What he lacked in ability, he made up for in effort. He tried his damnedest to do what was best for the boy every chance he got, and that should be commended.
Taking the football analogy just a bit too far, it's easy to "Monday morning quarterback" the situation and point out all sorts of things that could have been done differently, but it's different when you're there in real time -- and who knows if any of those changes would have even made a positive difference?
I think the biggest detriment is just how relatively late Josh received his autism diagnosis. Wasn't he already a teenager? When he got the diagnosis, Clint immediately enrolled in classes to learn how to work with him, but with only a few short years before Josh turned 18, there just wasn't enough time to make enough of a difference.
If Clint had known earlier, I have no doubt that he would have given Josh the support that he needed in a way that he would be receptive to -- and likely would have resulted in a much better outcome all around.
