The week opened with a couple of looming storms. Each was met by a surge of common sense and even grace. As both parent and political observer, I'm not sure which was the greater relief.

As Hurricane Gustav bore down on the Gulf Coast, millions of people evacuated two or three days ahead of its path in a calm and orderly fashion. Local officials, some of whom bear responsibility for lost lives and needless destruction during Hurricane Katrina, sounded the alarm early this time. Republican leaders -- mindful of President Bush's tone-deaf response three years ago -- whittled their convention agenda to the bare bones and turned their parties into hurricane fundraisers.

All this thoughtful preparedness was almost as heartening as Gustav's relatively mild hit. We showed ourselves we aren't necessarily a nation of whiny incompetents and unfeeling lunkheads.

But as the storm was heading inland, a political storm was brewing on the Internet. Republican presidential candidate John McCain had announced his vice presidential pick Friday, astonishing many with the relatively little-known governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin.

You would have known her name for some time if you subscribe either to conservative political journals or to Vogue. (I'm covered on both fronts, despite my boring wardrobe.) Like Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, Mrs. Palin has drawn conservatives' attention ever since running for statewide office, and Vogue published a profile of her last December.

The same attributes that make Republicans giddy with hope -- mother of five, political reformer, hunter, athlete, wife of a blue-collar Native American -- made left-wing Democrats panic. Over the weekend the blogosphere got busy. By Sunday night, I was reading posts claiming that Mrs. Palin's 4-month-old child with Down syndrome was actually born by her 17-year-old daughter, Bristol, and that the governor was passing him off as her own.

As mind-boggling as it is that any literate American could invent or believe such a laughable conspiracy theory, there were enough fragments of truth in the hyperventilating blogs to provoke the Palins to reveal on Monday a painful private matter: Oldest daughter Bristol is five months pregnant.

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said exactly the right thing Monday when asked for his opinion of the situation: "I think people's families are off limits, and people's children are especially off limits. This shouldn't be part of our politics."

His attitude is especially wise given that his two young daughters have not reached those difficult, potentially news-making teenage years. But as the "CBS Evening News" report pointed out after Mr. Obama's gracious statement, whether the Palins' story should be part of our politics, it already is.

Reporters immediately began asking Republican delegates whether Bristol Palin's unwed teenage pregnancy made them second-guess Mr. McCain's choice. (Judging from published and broadcast stories, none apparently do.)

But it may provoke some interesting dinner-table conversations -- not least about birth control and sex education. On this political issue you can find the snarkiness so notably absent in response to the Palins' personal story.

For instance, Ruth Marcus, of the Washington Post, asserts that Mrs. Palin "opposes programs that teach teenagers anything about contraception." She cites as evidence a questionnaire from the conservative Eagle Forum in the 2006 gubernatorial race on which Mrs. Palin said, "The explicit sex-ed programs will not find my support."

Not only does that statement not support Ms. Marcus's assertion, but as Time magazine has reported, Mrs. Palin is a member of Feminists for Life, an anti-abortion, pro-contraception organization.

There's still plenty to learn about Mrs. Palin, but perhaps to her way of thinking, "explicit" sex-ed programs would be those that show kids as early as elementary school how to put on a condom. Perhaps, given her affiliations, she's charting the middle ground between the extremes of abstinence-only and here's-how-you-do-it, the balance that Ms. Marcus said she sought for her own daughters: "Wait, please. But whenever you choose to have sex, don't do it without contraception."

Perhaps, being pro-life, Mrs. Palin has told her daughter that ending a fetus's life isn't a moral form of contraception. (Since in the United States about 90 percent of fetuses diagnosed as having Down syndrome are aborted, the Palins' decision to give birth to their son, Trig, is a powerful example.)

But what every parent finally realizes is that you can do your best and find what you thought was a healthy, balanced approach to any parenting issue, but your child still has a life and mind and body of her own.

There is no "foolproof" system. We all have our moments of folly, from childhood right up till death. All we can offer each other as friends and family is a loving hand when we stumble and a strong shoulder to help bear the consequences.

All we can offer as outsiders is what was surprisingly on display this week -- the space and grace to continue life's journey honorably.