Take a Stand for the Sake of Your Children

In a few weeks, God willing, a third child will be welcomed into my family.  

And so, again, I’ve been reflecting on fatherhood. In the conservative world, fatherhood and family life is a well-trod topic. There is nothing unique I have to offer, though perhaps nothing unique on parenting has been written since the Bible. Perhaps all that’s needed are reminders on good and proper ways to rear one’s children. Daily reminders, yearly reminders, generational reminders. Wisdom gets forgotten, after all.  

In this America of ours, where the path of least resistance—in nearly every facet of life—is suggested as the best course, it is important for your children to see you, at some point or another, take a stand on something meaningful. And make it visible. Your children must see and understand what you are doing.  

Taking a stand is not complaining to the waiter that the food was bad, or giving someone in the service industry a piece of your mind because you can. Taking a stand is not putting a sign in your yard that reads “Love is Love,” or whatever virtue-signal is trending around your environs. It’s not a Facebook post, or an email. 

Taking a stand means that you’ve put something on the line, that something is being risked. It means doing something right, even if it’s unpopular. Taking a stand is what Andrew Gutmann recently did when he, taking notice that the school in which his daughter was enrolled had been captured by an administration intent on pushing critical race theory to psychological devastation of the students, wrote a public letter to the school and pulled his daughter from the environment. 

Mr. Gutmann now faces the nasty court of public opinion (so much for “Love is Love”) and lord knows what else in his private life. But he took a stand and showed his daughter what it means to be principled. May we each summon the courage for similar acts when the moment calls. Your children will be better for it. After all, if you don’t take a stand on important things, your children will be left holding the bag when you’re gone.