As the sun sets on another day I ponder my love for my daughters. For hours I talked to my daughters today. It is a unique experience talking to a daughter when you are a dad (or mom I suppose). Where the natural instinct with a son is to protect and accept, the natural instinct with a daughter is to protect and protect. I suppose I have always been a protector anyway, as I have a few stories that made me this way, but I cannot imagine a life where a daughter, or a woman for that matter, is not protected and on a pedestal. There are a lot of parents that love their sons to no end and make them into the men they should be, with patient respect and honor for everyone they come into contact with. My Grandfather taught me that no woman ever deserved to be mistreated, at all, period, end of story, done. He stated simply that the man should always be the protector and the joy in his wife’s life, and as such, his wife should be the joy in his life. There was no compromise based on what I was taught, it was a two way street. (Wouldn’t that be a perfect world?) I was told that a man who mistreated his wife in any way, did not deserve that wife. This has gotten me into a bit of trouble before as I have seen men mistreat their wives in public (Or women in general) and stepped in. (I pause here for any foolish man who states “I would kick his bottom etc etc etc”) I did so without pause as sometimes injustice needs a champion.
The point is, a daughters love is precious, and no matter what, the endgame should be a daughters happiness. Ask most any real father of any daughter if it is OK for ANY woman to be mistreated, and he will spurn the idea. Ask most any father how a daughter should be treated and he will say with respect, and passion, and love. Recently I spoke to someone about a man who had this, he was older and loved his wife with all his heart, and his wife loved him back. The stories I was told were of a man who did not compromise on his love, and who accepted a daughter who was troubled, no matter what. His love for his wife, translated to an overwhelming love for his daughter, who he would accept and protect, to his final days.
for me, I hope I can show my daughters how love should be, and how men should treat women. I hope I can show my son the way to be patient and treat a woman correctly, always. I hope that men who verbally or physically abuse women wake one morning and realize the damage they have done to both women and to themselves. I hope men can teach their sons that their mother be held on a pedestal. Mostly I hope that women who are mistreated teach their son’s that happiness is more important than pretense, and love more important that status, and sometimes life throws you a curve-ball, and you have to walk. After all, when the sun rises tomorrow, I hope it is full of truth, love, and the power to move life to a new level, and shed the negatives that hold us down.