I hear it all the time. If the vegetarian’s son ever touches meat, she will cry. If the humanist’s daughter ever treats a fellow human disrespectfully, her heart will break. If the animal activist’s children ever dissect a baby pig, if the scientist’s children ever forego immunizations, if the atheist’s children ever fall into religion, if the believer’s children ever break from the church… the parent will be distraught and inconsolable...
Which lends the question: is parental love and support conditional?
I think about it constantly. If, in raising Micaela, Pablo and I fail to instill within her the same values that we hold dear… will we be disappointed in ourselves or in her? Will our hearts break? Will we cry? And I think the answer is NO!
We definitely have our values. We value family and loyalty. We value hard work and perseverance. We value tolerance and faith. But if our baby girl values none of these, if she eschews family and cheats on her significant other, if she lazes about and quits on everything she starts, if she is openly judgmental and cynical… I suppose that we would love her still, support her still, accept her still.
I suppose that what it boils down to is that Pablo and I both believe that most people are inherently good.
And we both believe that sometimes good people do distasteful things. And we both believe that our daughter will be a good person who will make mistakes, and that we gave her life so that she could LIVE, so that she could experience all of who she is – positive and negative. And, naturally, we both believe that we will always love and support our little princess NO MATTER WHAT.
After all, we are her parents; we cannot see any other way...
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