I posted this article linking to Jen Martinez’s blog. And I got to thinking. Sometimes that’s dangerous. But here’s some of my thoughts:

I don’t like to think of myself as a violent person. I don’t pursue violence as a normal course of events. But I am a defender. I have children. As a father, I am responsible for caring for them. This means food, shelter, education, health care, and protection.

If I didn’t clean up broken glass, or didn’t make sure food wasn’t spoiled, or that their clothes were clean and in good repair, or if I made them sleep under bridges or didn’t make them go to school, society’s busybodies would fall all over themselves telling me what a bad father I was, and they’d try taking my children away.

But protection is part of the equation too. Yes, I live in a very safe neighborhood, in a very safe corner of a very safe state. But I think in terms of preparedness. My motto is it’s better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it. And this applies to my family’s defense. So I keep a gun (hell, several guns) in the house, and I know how to use them. I practice often enough to meet home defense criteria, i.e., I won’t shoot what I’m NOT aiming at, like my own foot, and I stand a very reasonable chance of hitting what I AM shooting at. With a shotgun, a pistol, or a rifle.

What am I supposed to do if my family is in danger? If I hear the sound of an intruder in my home, am I supposed to call 9-1-1 and cower, hoping that they’ll get here in time to protect me and my children? Let’s rephrase that to one of the OTHER necessities: What am I supposed to do if my family is HUNGRY? Call the local government and wait for them to provide us with food?

That’s the rest of the equation, folks. We are supposed to be protectors and providers. From time immemorial, a father was supposed to stand between his family and the cold, between them and starvation, and between them and the predator, be that human or animal. And today there are some in society who would change that. First, they tell us that they will protect us, then they tell us that they will see that we are fed, and sheltered and educated in the manner they think best for us. And the sad thing is that so many believe that the government can and should be father to us all.

I haven’t given up my fatherhood.