'I Wish This Was a Better Place for You'

A side effect of a restless night, our whole house was awake early this morning. I am usually up, dressed, and gone to work by the time my wife gets up, so I was grateful to see her this morning. Then, our daughter woke to the sounds of the two of us debriefing and pouring over polling numbers in California, and whether or not Hillary Clinton would overtake the popular vote. Seeing Liv in the morning is a rare treat, and I picked her up and kissed her.

I immediately felt a need to apologize to her. The right words were buried in my chest, and all I could get out was something like "I wish this was a better place for you." I put her down and we ate breakfast, then I dressed her for daycare and started getting ready to head to work. I kissed my wife goodbye, kissed my daughter again, and got in my truck.

The moment I walked through the door at work I heard a co-worker say to a group of guys ".. .a good thing is that we don't have to be nice to women anymore." Laughter. "Yeah, when you get home, your wife will know who's the boss now." The group of men approved and started carrying the topic further. The only way to stop me from yelling or crying was to keep motoring by, as is my nature.

But I barely made it four steps before I realized that I knew what I should have said to my daughter, what I should be saying to my wife, and every other person who feels like an "other" today.

This election was a referendum on who matters; who is a second class citizen, who shouldn't be citizens, and who cannot be citizens.

I have always tried to understand (or at least be understanding of) how it feels to be anything other than a straight white male, but I never felt it until I looked into my daughter's eyes. My perfect Korean daughter's eyes.

To anyone who is left feeling invalidated, oppressed, depressed, or scared, you matter. You matter. You are made in the image of God, and you matter.

There is so much good work to be done.