Dad Does My Life Matter?

This morning my twelve year old son asked me an interesting question. He had seen the peaceful protests in Tallahassee Florida on the news from yesterday and saw a sign one of them was holding. It said "Police Lives do Not Matter". He also saw one that said "Only Black Lives Matter". Then he saw another one that said "Trans Lives Matter". This caused mass confusion for him because his dad is a police officer and some of his family members, and friends are from different races and he really does not understand what "trans" means at this time in his life.

Then he asked me "Dad, does my life matter?" It opened up an opportunity to discuss the rights of all men and women and that we are all created as equal. We also discussed slavery, racism, and civil rights. I explained to him even now there is racism and bias in our country and that although God created us equal we don't always get treated equal because of the explicit and implicit bias of people.

We watched the George Floyd video together and discussed the actions of the officers and the death of George Floyd. I asked my son to share how the video made him feel after watching it. This allowed him to get an understanding of what happened and why so many people to include people of all races, sexes, nationalities, and law enforcement officers were upset, frustrated, and angry, about what happened.

I then assured him his life does matter and by watching and understanding what happened he would be able to understand why others felt theirs did not. I encouraged him to continue to have strong faith and do unto others as you would have done unto you and treat everyone as equal even if at times they do not do the same for you. We closed in prayer asking God to shine through the adversity and unite all of us through this tragic moment.

In closing, I am disgusted by the death of George Floyd and the actions taken by the officers in that incident. I am also very disappointed that a tragic moment that could have united us all and made us stronger instead divided us and further weakened us as a nation.

#proudfathermoment #yourlifematters #lawenforcement #policeofficers