Hello Dragon,
I hope you’re afraid of monsters under your bed, boogeymen, or (like your grandmother) of Freddy Kruger. It’s not that I want you to be afraid but that I want you to only have fictional things to scare you.
I hope you never feel the fear of going out to a public place, or going to school.
I hope you never fear for your life walking down the street or traveling to other countries.
The world right now is on the cusp of something. I’m not sure what it is yet. Optimistically it’s the movement towards a united and peaceful world. Pessimistically it’s the movement towards another great terrible war or series of wars.
Weekly in the news, we hear about bombings. Sometimes more than one a week. In the UK they just voted to leave the European Union. Some for economic reasons but mostly for racist reasons; and hate crimes have risen to historic highs. In the US, the argument of politics seems to be more about skin colour and genitals than actual policies.
All over the world people are afraid. Afraid for their lives, afraid of others, afraid for our world.
The earth isn’t dying. People will tell you we’re destroying it. They’re wrong, we’re making it uninhabitable for ourselves. Just another thing to fear. Some people deal with that fear by trying to change things, others by ignoring it.
“I would never bring a child into this world, why would you?”
Someone asked me how I could think of bringing children into such a broken world. My answer to them was simply, “Hope.”
You, Baby Dragon, represent hope to me; a hope that you will have a wonderful life that you will see a world free from hate and fear, that you’ll help make that world.
And the truth is it’s not all doom and gloom. The Ozone Layer has started to heal, infant mortality is at its lowest in history, life spans are longer, more people can read, food production is more efficient than ever. Every day we as a species invent, discover, and create something amazing.
The world we’re bringing you into isn’t perfect, far from it, but it has hope and that’s worth a lot.
I love you, Baby Dragon!
Your Loving Papa