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Dear Freya,
Today is November 7, 2016 – a Monday. I am currently sitting in seat 4D of a Boeing 757, on Delta flight DL952. I am traveling from Seattle to Atlanta, on my way to Orlando, FL. This is the week that I (normally) attend the IT Nation technology conference.
This is a week that is important for the company, and you father’s professional career, which in turn means it is important to us as a family. The downside, is of course that I have to spend time away from both Mommy, you, and Cali. To be spending a week away from you at this point in time, a time that you only just finished turning 2-months old, is difficult. Everyday you do something new. To miss a week of these ‘firsts’ is a big loss to me – I want you to know that.
Tomorrow is Election Day in the United States. As a Canadian, I don’t fully comprehend the American electoral structure, but I do understand that I have no time for their political system as a whole.
This election race, between the two candidates (Democrat candidate Hillary Clinton, and Republican candidate Donald Trump), has in my opinion not been around political matters. It has been more about slinging mud towards the other candidate, and dragging as many skeletons out of the other person’s closet that you can possibly find. Politics is a dirty, and in my opinion corrupt, and broken system.
Hillary Clinton has, in my opinion, a very good likelihood of becoming the first female US President in history. I find it sad that this is a story of topic in itself. Why you ask? Well, simply put: It shouldn’t be news. We should be in a world today, where the candidates sex shouldn’t matter.
What I really want to speak to you about today, is the Republican candidate, Donald J Trump. Here is a candidate for the President of the United States of America, a country with which I believe Canada has a close alley and a good neighbour. We share with each other the longest land border in the world, something I think both countries should take great pride in.
Donald Trump has been shown to have made comments in 2005 (at the age of 59) which were extremely sexist and extremely disrespectful towards women. He has also become engaged in some extremely deplorable verbal comments towards other candidates, not just women. These words have from a presidential candidate, someone to whom children should be able to look towards as an example.
As a father of a little girl, I am additionally appalled with the manner of his conduct and the comments he has made, and his dismissal that it was ‘locker room talk’. I am more appalled that there are large numbers of individuals who agree with him. I am even more outraged, that more people have not stood in defiance of the comments he has made. As a man, as a husband, and as a father, to say that I share these demographics with this individual, fills me with shame.
I am not going to lie to you. There are a lot of things in this world that is unfair, and unjust. Whether you experience or see it as sexism, racism, bigotry, prejudice, or inequality, there is a lot of discrimination in this world, and you will find it in all areas, and in all walks of life. Acceptance of others is a value with which not everyone is brought up believing in. Other may find through the events and experienced in their lives, might taint them towards a particular demographic. But there is a lot of good in this world also.
What I wanted to say to you today, is this. I promise to do all I can to introduce, drive and encourage positive change. I commit to you that I will do what I can to improve the spaces and environments in which I find myself. To ensure that not only I conduct myself in a manner with which you would be proud of me as your father, but that I spur that same conduct and change in others.
Freya, your Mother and I love you dearly, and think the absolute world of you. Every day you do new things, and leave me in absolute wonder. We are blessed to share our lives with you, and I look forward to seeing you and Mommy soon.
All My Love,
Dad.
