The Importance of Being Daddy

​One of the greatest gifts I have ever received is the pleasure of being a father. There is nothing more fulfilling, and nothing more pleasurable, than having my little girl look at me and say, "Daddy." She is an incredible little girl, growing quicker, smarter, and prettier every day.

​The problem, however, is that I am growing older. I know I will be very old by the time she reaches university. Of course, I will try my best to be there for her for as long as I can. I will do more exercise, eat healthier, and do whatever I can to extend my life. But the reality is, I know it's inevitable. I'm not likely to live past 85; that is the average life expectancy on this planet, especially for men.

​So, what I want to do, and what I've been trying to do as you've seen from the previous articles, is to capture my feelings about how I hope she will grow up. Her education, her choices, and the values that we give her—I want to incorporate these into my teaching. I won't tell her what to do, or how to live her life. If she wants to be any number of things, I am very concerned with her personal liberty, that she gets to choose how she wants to live.

​What I want to do is show her what I think is a healthy, happy way to live. I want to show her things that are interesting, so I want her to explore science, history, geography, and education as fun, not as something we have to do just to get a diploma so we can graduate and get a job. I also want her to understand the idea of community and social responsibility, and to act as if she is part of a culture that supports each other. I want her to have a commitment to human rights, diversity, tolerance, and kindness, where every person can walk down the street and not worry about being judged for their weight, their color, their sex, their gender, or any number of things.

​I also want her to understand that compassion and kindness are the guiding principles by which we should live our lives. These ideas may sound wishy-washy, they may sound airy-fairy, like, "Oh, you're just a snowflake liberal," but the reality is, I think I would rather be a "snowflake liberal" than some rotten conservative who's biggest concern is how much money they have in the bank, and how much they want to give to their relatives and friends to make themselves feel important.