A simple question asked by an 11 year old that CAN’T have an answer other than a child deserves both. As a child of a broken home, now that I am approaching the end of middle age and that my Eldest and Youngest are now in their mid-to-late twenties, I realize that from personal experience the void that was left without a Father in the home. Oh sure, Mom tried really, really hard, but she was, in the end, a Mom – not a Dad. As it came time for me to raise my own, I thought I was well prepared – I had some role models from church and other groups I was in that I thought would stand me in good stead. A voracious reader, I bought every self-help book for a Dad-to-be.
Yeah, not so much. At each stage, I realized that I was winging it – a lot. I HAD no firm framework on which to hang the Dad hat no matter how hard I tried to recall the advice of those grown men who unstintingly gave of their time to shepherd we young boys in our activities or the pages of text from the “know more than I”. Tough work, had to keep at it – and even accounting for the stuff / problems with my two that even having a Dad in the past wouldn’t have helped at all, I realized the voids of “what the heck now”? I’m not about to write a book about this issue (although I probably could), but certainly I know that this young lady is spot on:
“Since every child needs a mom and a dad to be born, I don’t think we can change that children need a mom and a dad. I believe God made it that way,” Grace Evans, 11, said before the Minnesota House Committee on Civil Law last week. “I know some disagree, but I want to ask you this question: Which parent do I not need – my mom or my dad?”
Testifying in Minnesota, she had a few more bon mots to say:
She paused for eight seconds as the legislators on the committee sat silent.
Evans then said, “I’ll ask again, which parent do I not need – my mom or my dad?” She paused again, this time for 13 seconds of silence from state lawmakers.
Evans concluded, saying, “I hope that you can see that every child needs a mom and a dad. Please don’t change your law on marriage to say otherwise.”
…
Evans told legislators that her mom and dad each provide something unique to her life.
“Even though I’m only 11 years old, I know that everyone deserves to have a mom and a dad,” Evans said. “If you change the law to say two moms and two dads can get married, it would take away something very important for children like me across the state.
Go read the whole thing – there’s a few more valuable observations as well as video (couldn’t get it to play properly here).
(H/T: CNSNews)
