ELIAN'S MOTHER MADE A CHOICE; DOES IT COUNT?

Elian Gonzalez. How quickly this name has become a household word. How quickly a 6-year-old boy has become a symbol of political, cultural and social rhetoric. How quickly Americans have chosen sides: Should he stay with Miami relatives, or should he be sent back to his father in Cuba?

It's hard not to know what Elian looks like. He has been on almost every TV newscast since Thanksgiving, when he was found floating on an inner tube in the Atlantic Ocean near Florida after he and others had fled Cuba. These days, his smiling face shows an active young lad with just a trace of imp. What's not to like about Elian Gonzalez?

Of course, Elian's case has grown much larger than a boy who survived an inner-tube trip from Cuba to Florida. His situation has created an international furor. And U.S. politicians of every ilk have jumped on board, trying to get in as many sound bites as possible before the microphones are turned off.

Officially, the United States says Elian must be returned to Cuba where his father and grandparents live. But the large community of Cuban immigrants in Miami think otherwise.

Why is Elian Gonzalez such important news? Some cynics whose jobs are to gather and disseminate the news have a succinct answer: It must be a really slow news day. In one way, this assessment can be taken with a good measure of optimism. If Elian Gonzalez really is the biggest news day after day, then the rest of what normally would be reported war, mayhem, crime, chicanery, government intrigue must be on a welcome hiatus.

On the other hand, still other cynics claim the Elian Gonzalez case is diverting attention from the real news about corruption, government waste and politics (this is, in case you didn't know, an election year).

Anyone who carefully examines the particulars of young Elian's plight will soon discover how complex an issue this has become. There are nationalistic urges at work as well. And there is an awful lot of the sort of thinking that concludes anything that skewers Fidel Castro is worthwhile.

But Castro is an old man whose fate will soon be judged by higher powers than the band of Cubans in Miami who say they want freedom and democracy for their homeland but who might be reluctant to give up their jobs, houses, automobiles and credit cards if they had an opportunity to go home.

In all of the debate, it seems everyone has a justification for why Elian should stay in the United States or return to Cuba. Much of the discussion has revolved around parental rights and keeping a family together.

Here are some thoughts that haven't received much attention. And while they aren't a final resolution to the arguments at hand, these thoughts deserve some consideration.

If, as the U.S. government has concluded, Elian should be returned to Cuba because his father is there, a father who says he wants his son back, then what about the parental decisions that were made before Elian jumped on that inner tube and started paddling toward Florida?

Elian's mother and father were divorced. His mother was the custodial parent. She and her new husband decided it was in their best interests -- and certainly Elian's -- to risk everything to leave Cuba. Elian's father knew of the planned departure. Some of the father's other relatives made telephone calls to Miami to tell them what was about to happen.

In the end, Elian's mother made a decision: She wanted Elian to go to the United States. In the attempt to get there, she and Elian's step-father lost their lives for this cause.

If a parent's choice has any bearing in this case, it certainly seems like Elian's mother made one, and then paid the highest price.