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Like many others, my father and I don’t see eye to eye: politically, socially, or culturally. He thinks feminism is a bunch of girls whining, and an effort to keep hard-working men down. He likes to be in wide-open spaces, where there is no one to talk to, I like the energy of the cities. He was looking forward to “Don’t Mess With the Zohan”, the movie I’m looking forward to is Batman.

But, my dad has taught me a lot of good things about the world, and despite what he may say, I am liberal because I listened to him, not in spite of what he might say. He taught me that you should treat people fairly, even when they don’t act fair. Hard-work may not always be enough to get what you want, but you’ll never get what you want without it.

My dad has made missteps and mistakes in his life, professionally, personally, and as a father, but he has also made sacrifices and has loved me as best as he can. He always watched my crappy little plays in elementary school, and watched me hit foul ball after foul ball when I was on the baseball team. Every home game for my basketball team he was in the bleachers, cheering me on. After my first Tae Kwon Do meeting, he was there to say it was okay when I got knocked in the face so hard I blacked out. He may have been in his uniform, and he may have been as bored as anyone could look, but he was there; proud of his little girl.

My dad is a good person, and possibly the most important lesson he could teach me was this: the people I disagree with, whether or not it’s in politics or just what makes a movie good are not evil. They aren’t monsters, they don’t go to sleep at night thinking about how to make the world a more dark and dismal place. They are also not actively stupid, ignoring the evidence that is right in front of their faces (although, sometimes it does feel like it). They are our friends and family, that just have…different…values than us.

So, here’s to you dad. Happy Father’s Day.