Daughter Love

To the man who commented,
“this is what’s wrong with women these days”,
when I wrote of raising a daughter
who’ll be aware of her worth and unashamed of her fire,
I didn’t mean to frighten you.
I understand that strong women can be quite threatening
to weak men.

To the man who commented,
“no man will want her”,
when I wrote of raising a daughter who’ll have her own voice and the audacity to use it freely,
I’m sure that was hard to hear.
The thought of a woman proudly defiant,
who you can’t control or intimidate,
probably sent a shiver down where your spine’s
supposed to be.

And to the man who commented,
“sounds like a future cat lady”,
when I wrote of raising a daughter who’ll know
her value doesn’t need validating,
please don’t take it so personally.
The type of life she designs is for her to decide,
but I promise, it will be filled with love, regardless.

It’s obvious that you’re all hurting.
I’m sorry if I upset you or stirred something up inside.
Did your mother not hug you enough?
Did your father not allow you to cry?
Did your wife leave and take half of your decency, too? You’re not displaying masculinity.
You’re broadcasting insecurities.
Your values aren’t “traditional”,
they’re chauvinistic.

Many of the strongest men I’ve ever known have a woman just as strong standing beside them.
Their manhood isn’t assailed by their wife’s confidence
or outspokenness.

And not a single one of the powerful women I’ve known
were made “less” by being alone.
If anything reduced them,
it was acquiescing to impotent men.

The irony is that when I say I will raise my daughter to be bold and assertive, unflinching and fierce,
the ones provoked by that
don’t realize they’re the reason why.

J. Raymond

#daughterlove