I went to a meeting today with an organization called Streetlight. It is a place for young women who have been sexually exploited to go, heal, learn, and begin a new life. I guess I am technically a father now, though I have yet to hold you in my arms you are very real. I could not be there without thinking of you.
           I see evil, I want to shield you from it, but someday you too will see it, feel it, and learn of the traps and trespasses of life that cause so much misery and solitude. According to the staff that runs the facility, most young women are exploited around age 13, sometimes even younger. They have no choice. They have no one to protect them. Their captors and exploiters don’t see them as human, because they themselves have long ago lost their humanity. I feel such anguish in my soul when I imagine you being in any situation such as that.
           As your father, perhaps above all is my instinct to protect you and your mother. I sometimes fail to take opportunities to steel myself for that very task. When a man thinks of protection his mind more often than not turns to violence. The furry he would unleash upon those who threatened what was his. I don’t speak of that, your father has many guns, my capability to protect you physically is not my worry. I want to raise you in a way that gives us both spiritual strength, and that is what worries me most.
           How do I keep you from the evils of life while preparing you to meet them alone someday? How do I raise you to live righteously before God and your peers? How can I expect to guide you when I am not sure of the path? I made plenty of missteps in life, I hurt others, behaved selfishly, neglected Gods will and purposely put myself on the path to destruction. And that was merely yesterday.
          To rehabilitate these young women takes a lot of patience and perseverance. I guess it would be akin to smashing a sculpture to bits, then being handed a bottle of glue and told to repair it. Our souls are delicate things. One thing the leaders kept saying is that it has to be a safe place, that is the first goal, to let these women know that perhaps for the first time in their entire lives they are safe. There is someone who cares about them as much or more than themselves and they will not leave them. I think that too is where I will start with you.
          I will be that safe place. From when you begin to cry as an infant to the time you cry as a teenager. Sometimes this world just is too much, we get confused, we make mistakes, sometimes we do terrible things. I will never judge you; I will never turn my back on you or cease to offer love and support. You and I will start there, the rest of my questions will be worked out along the way, but that is where we will start. I will be your safe place through the turmoil of this life. I am your father and you will be forever loved.