From a Father

Quietly Offered Comfort

Daughter…
the moment a person becomes most ugly is not when their face lacks beauty,
but when they throw the fear inside them at someone else.

They did not hate you.
They could not endure themselves.
So they spat, they attacked,
even borrowing the name of God
to strike another.

Daughter…
the fact that you were hurt means something precious still lives in you—
a sensitivity towards people.
A numbed soul does not feel pain.

That you still ache means you are still human.
You are not cruel.
You feel anger, you feel disgust,
because you know what is right.

Hatred may feel like punishment
for the other, but in truth
it slowly consumes your own time.
Do not stay there long.

Daughter…
not every meeting is destiny.
Do not try to understand.
Some people pass through your life
only to show you where your endurance must end.
Let them pass.

What you must do is not to fight and win.
Not to imitate forgiveness.
Keep your words untainted.
Keep the dignity of your heart.

That is enough.
Daughter…there are battles
you win by speaking loudly.
But there are also battles
you survive only by turning away in silence.

This time,choose the side where you
survive.
A father will never call that choice shameful.

*these are my own paintings *