Thank Goodness

It’s been weird to be a dad over the last three ish years. 

 

Since the boys were born, I’ve tried to impart one lesson. One simple lesson: BE A GOOD PERSON. Be a good person and good things will happen. Be a good person and you’ll win.

 

And then our nation elected the worst person. 

 

Suddenly a very bad person became the most powerful person in the world. And he did bad things. Terrible things. He put people in cages. He cheated. He stole. He bullied. He treated the needy with zero respect. He killed hundreds of thousands of people with his carelessness.

 

Diana and I shook our fists. We marched. We donated. We turned on MSNBC full blast. Our dinner conversation centered around the bad man and his badness.

 

And yet, I worried about the affect this had on Elijah and Luca. Yes, they were vocal opponents of the bad man. Quick with a “Bad man sucks!” whenever we saw him on TV. But I worried about what this was doing subconsciously.

 

Deep down, maybe their developing brains were learning that being a bad person was the way to be successful. A bad person was super rich(or so he says over and over). A bad person was worshiped by millions. A bad person was president. Maybe being a bad person wasn’t as bad as Dad said.

 

Heading into this election, I was petrified. Oh hey kids, be a good person. Unless you want to be the most powerful person in the world. Twice. I needed consequences for evil. I needed The Emperor to get thrown over the railing. I needed the dragon to be slayed. I needed Hans Gruber to fall out of Nakatomi Plaza.

 

What if the bad person won again?

 

Yesterday, we were training Jerry in front of the house. Feeding him hunks of string cheese as a reward for not attacking us.

 

Suddenly, our neighbor Lydie came running out. Tween legs and arms and hair flapping. “Guys…Biden won. They called it!”

 

People came streaming out of their houses, shouting. The good man won. The bad man lost. Diana burst into tears. Later, we walked to the center of town and stood there cheering as cars unknowingly found themselves in an impromptu parade and honked with enthusiasm.

 

I looked at Eli, who banged on a trashcan lid and whooped with glee. I let out a long sigh and let the goodness sink in. For just a minute.