The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.
Jesus Christ
Resignation is cowardice. Accepting life as it comes to us, accepting injustice and inequality as if they were unavoidable of life, is cowardice.
Because of that, because no human being should be forced to settle up for less than he/she deserves, because no human being has to suffer in silence the blows of life, the only choice that is left is to fight bravely, to fight relentlessly, to fight until the victorious end.
That is why every time I hear someone telling me that I should be happy because at least I can see my daughter, while other fathers cannot see their children, their words, instead of being a comfort, are nothing more than a well-intentioned insult.
I ask myself what would Martin Luther King and Malcolm X had replied, if during the effervescence of the civil rights movement, someone would have told them that should feel satisfied because, at least, they were not slaves. I am convinced that both of them would have felt as offended as I feel every time someone ask me to settle for the present state of custody laws, state that perpetuates inequality between genders by priming the role of the mother over the role of the father.
Human life without dignity is not human life. And there is no dignity in living a second-class life, being demoted from parent to vice-parent. Anything less than equality is unacceptable. No human being should accept being treated in way less than he/she should be treated. We are fathers, not babysitters of our own children, not the guys who visit them occasionally and who are important only because they supply the money. We are fathers and it is time to demand being treated as such.
We cannot accept that the immense majority of times child custodies are awarded indiscriminately to a gender, disposing of the rights of the other. We cannot accept that financial responsibilities of rising children to fall falls upon a gender, allowing the other to use the money assigned to the children without any control that ensures that the money is being used in what was assigned to. We cannot accept that children who are not orphans to be forced to live as such by court decree.
It is time for the fight to start.
Our children are waiting for us
Jesus Christ
Resignation is cowardice. Accepting life as it comes to us, accepting injustice and inequality as if they were unavoidable of life, is cowardice.
Because of that, because no human being should be forced to settle up for less than he/she deserves, because no human being has to suffer in silence the blows of life, the only choice that is left is to fight bravely, to fight relentlessly, to fight until the victorious end.
That is why every time I hear someone telling me that I should be happy because at least I can see my daughter, while other fathers cannot see their children, their words, instead of being a comfort, are nothing more than a well-intentioned insult.
I ask myself what would Martin Luther King and Malcolm X had replied, if during the effervescence of the civil rights movement, someone would have told them that should feel satisfied because, at least, they were not slaves. I am convinced that both of them would have felt as offended as I feel every time someone ask me to settle for the present state of custody laws, state that perpetuates inequality between genders by priming the role of the mother over the role of the father.
Human life without dignity is not human life. And there is no dignity in living a second-class life, being demoted from parent to vice-parent. Anything less than equality is unacceptable. No human being should accept being treated in way less than he/she should be treated. We are fathers, not babysitters of our own children, not the guys who visit them occasionally and who are important only because they supply the money. We are fathers and it is time to demand being treated as such.
We cannot accept that the immense majority of times child custodies are awarded indiscriminately to a gender, disposing of the rights of the other. We cannot accept that financial responsibilities of rising children to fall falls upon a gender, allowing the other to use the money assigned to the children without any control that ensures that the money is being used in what was assigned to. We cannot accept that children who are not orphans to be forced to live as such by court decree.
It is time for the fight to start.
Our children are waiting for us
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