Tell me what you really think.
I think I will just let you know I was here.....Sorry, kid.
Thank you for posting this....{{tears}}
Great letter, great dad.
One minor thing. Even abortion is forgiveable. I don't like it at all and would never choose to have one.
I've had to forgive someone who had one and it can be done and God does do it.
WOW
I'd be interested to hear if there is response.
I'm nosey that way.
Amazing letter.
Bravo, Dad. May God hear and answer your prayers.
One last thing to remember. If you’re looking for a stable relationship, you’re not going to find it where you’re currently looking. Exciting is nice for a weekend or a month.
In my experience, nothing triggers the "OOOOO! MY SOULMATE! HE'S SO (gasp) EXCITING!" reaction in woman as an abusive creep.
Or as Jeff Foxworthy put it:
"Women say they want a man that's DANGEROUS. They think they're going to get James Bond. Instead, in a couple years you'll see them on Cops, leaning out of their trailer in their tube-top, screaming to the cops 'YOU LOCK HIS ASS UP! YOU LOCK HIS ASS UP!'"
wow...I can relate!
That was awesome. What wisdom!
A powerful post. I hope that daughter reads that letter over and over and responds to her parents.
Eldest daughter got the letter today. Called me to let me know she got the check--said nothing about the letter--but I don't expect any "road to Damascas" moment. I expect we'll see a change in gratitude around the time she starts to have kids of her own.
Daughter #2 (age 13) is visiting her 'til Friday. Picture ultra-perky, super sweet, cookie-baking, Middle School cheerleader meets cynical, manipulative sister whose own self-esteem is based solely on what other people are doing with her.
I would forgive my daughter an abortion--but I would grieve all my life for the life that could have been. I also believe the judgment of God to be just--He knows the depths of our hearts afterall. While my daughter may have rejected the faith, I'm hoping that enough remains that she would truly seek for God's touch before she makes such an awesome decision. I would rather she use birth control in lieu of getting pregnant and having to make such a choice. I want her to know she does have another choice and to encourage her to choose life.
Thank you to all for your comments and support. We are all engaged in a great conflict between light and darkness. The only wasted effort is the one not made, so again, thank you. Your thoughts and prayers may not change the universe--but they do have the power to change YOU and the way you interact with the universe.
-Grateful Dad
Probably the only thing in the letter that I strongly disagree with is "Even a drunk driving accident that kills a child can be forgiven. But, despite what society and T.V. may portray, abortion is the premeditated murder of an innocent."
To me a drunk driving accident that kills a child is worse than abortion. You have kiled more people. You have destroyed the lives of the parents and siblings and grandparents of that chiild as well. Oh, they may go on living, but the life they had is gone and they will have to work very hard to create a new way to live. It is premeditated too. Drinking is a choice. Driving drunk is a choice. Don't do it. If you do and you kill a child it is no accident. An analogy ( I use this on my son): an accident is if you are walking through the house and trip and fall into the table breaking the lamp. It is not an accident if you are throwing the baseball in the house and it hits the lamp and breaks it. You willnot be punished for the first, you will for the second. You may not have meant to break the lamp, but you knew you should not ahave been throwing the ball in the house. Same with drunk driving.
I hope the daughter mentioned never has an abortion or kills a child. Personally, I could forgive an abortion more easily. At least she has only hurt herself- she will live with it for a long time. (If you believe in an afterlife the innocent life destroyed will go there.)
I agree with Anne. To me, drunk driving is closer to unforgivable. I have had five relatives killed by drunk drivers. It has caused entire families to completely implode. I have seen it.
wow, what a letter on the level. That must have taken ages to articulate before it hit the page. Nice but hard for the kid to know where she stands.
Long, late comment, excuse please!
Excellent letter.
When I was 20 (only six years ago) I wouldn’t have been able to read that with an open mind. I would have been far too concerned about having opinions “forced” upon me, but unfortunately, maybe like the daughter in question, all too anxious to accept the money.
I was the rebel kid that other family members were anxious about having to Christmas. I have lots of tattoos, had purple hair for quite a while (no hair for a little while), enough metal in my face to preclude swift security checks at the airport, and lots of live-in boyfriends that looked like werewolves. I gave my parents a really rough time, scared the crap out of anyone who cared about me, and effectively alienated my entire family.
From me to you, Dad, there’s hope. Maybe it’s a God-swatting, perhaps it’s seeing the bigger responsibility picture, but it happens.
These days I still listen to that there Devil music, but I’m also the VP of a mortgage company. I’m still not religious, but I prefer the company of Christians. My parents love my husband (who looks like a werewolf, ironically), and our families get along great. I take every opportunity to hang out with my family members, especially the elderly ones, and osmosis some experience off them.
I agree with you too on forgiveness. At 20 I would have battled you for days on a woman’s right to excise her parasite, today I agree that drunk driving is more forgivable. At least you didn’t get into the car knowing you *would*, not might, kill a priceless child, and do it anyway.
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