Today is Father's Day. This is my fourth Father's Day, and I've been feeling a little introspective lately, so I thought I would share my thoughts.
I've said it before on here: being a father is who I am. I don't just see it as an obligation or a responsibility, though that is part of it. Instead, being a father is part and parcel of Andrei Chira, the man. I live to be a good dad for Kate. I know the old saying is that when you have children, your life changes completely, but it's not just the added things I have to do or how I have to watch out for Kate. My purpose in life--my ultimate goal--is to make sure that Kate has the best life she can have, and that I prepare her as much as I possibly can to make a better tomorrow. I know a lot of parents feel the same way, so I'm sure you guys know what I mean.
I've spent a lot of time talking about anarcho-capitalism and anarchy generally, and a long time ago I made a post about why I even bothered supporting such a pie-in-the-sky dream as a stateless, consensual society. Well, it's because of my daughter. Not only are the ethical implications such that I'm compelled to these beliefs, but I pursue and push them because I want the world that my daughter inherits to be freer and more civilized than the one I inherited. I want the world to be a better place not for everyone else but for my daughter, who is going to have to grow up in it and learn to navigate it as she grows.
That's what fatherhood is to me. It's setting aside your own myriad personal goals in favor of those that help you achieve a new ultimate goal: bringing your child up to be the best person they can be. My father has done this throughout his life. He gave up his own successful business back in Romania to move to the United States because he saw that I would have the best opportunity to learn and grow here, rather than staying back home. He's worked tirelessly to build a great, stable life for me and for all of us together, and I have been lucky enough to enjoy the success of his efforts. Though there were many times in my life where I neglected to acknowledge that or outright refused his very patient, reasonable requests, I have grown up enough by now to realize how absolutely right he was, every step of the way.
Thank you, Dad for being an awesome father and for having the same philosophy that I now have as a father. I couldn't have hoped to have a better dad than you.
