DAUGHTERS
Daughters are wonderful gifts that have not been granted to every man.
I cringe when I consider my own incompetence and failure at cherishing these gifts over the years. We spend decades frantically chasing after the urgent while neglecting these beautiful gardens that God has dropped in our laps. I love to see my daughters, to hear their voices, to hug them. I always want to be with them. I always want them around.
Fathers will go to war for their sons. But we will destroy planets for our daughters. Not because we love them more, but because we love them differently. Because they are different. We want to somehow protect them from this predatory world. But we know we cannot so, we treat them differently than our sons. Daughters can force men to a gentleness that does not come easily for some of us.
I will be accused, of course, of “perpetuating gender stereotypes”, whatever that means. This culture has lost its mind on gender. I do not see how it can recover it. I am not a culture warrior, but it is obvious, even to me, that only the weakest of men would demand to compete against women; only the weakest of philosophies would attempt to justify it. I do not care what this world thinks anymore. It is consistently wrong on all the things that truly matter. Sons cannot be daughters. Only daughters are daughters.
Daughters are magical beings. They make me want to be a better man than I am. (my sons do also, but in a different way) They reflect the image of God in a way that men cannot, and usually better. They sing more. They dance more. They embrace more. They talk more. They pretend more. They create more. They stay longer. When they grow up, they visit more.
I have young daughters and older ones. Married daughters and single daughters. I even have a daughter who is no longer with us; she is with a better father now. They all shine in their own unique way. They are the stars in my night sky, piercing through the darkness and warming my heart.
To all you daughters, this world is working overtime to devalue you. To convince us that there is nothing special about being a daughter, anyone can do it. Do not listen to it. You make all the men around you better just by being you. You make civilization worth fighting for. You are the heartbeat of your fathers, even if they never told you.
You are a treasure.